Development of a wearable measurement system to identify characteristics in human gait - ESHOE -

Abstract

Measurement and interpretation of human ambulation offers great opportunities for several fields in AAL. In this paper CEIT RALTEC's ongoing development of a wearable measurement system, integrated in a conventional walking shoe, is presented. By combining different kinds of sensors in a sensor network, several characteristic parameters of the human ambulation can be measured. Extensive sensor data fusion and interpretation is used to extract significant features, which will be used for inference purposes. Beside the pure technical development a main goal during the design process is the deployment of an user centred approach. Whereas potential elderly users as well as medical experts and care takers are involved during the whole development process, with the goal of delivering a close-to-market prototype at the end of the project. © 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.