A real-time intelligent shoe system for writing by foot

Electronic devices (PCs, smart phones, etc.) are ubiquitous in the world and the convenience in users' input has become increasingly important for their extensive applications. Disabled armless people are also in need of a novel input interface for a better life. In this paper, we present our research on a wearable sensor-integrated shoe system as a writing platform, by sensing and analyzing the foot movement, so it enables people to write by foot. Also using this system, people can exercise their lower limbs and related brain parts for recovery from illness, e.g. stroke. We use the force sensors (FSRs) to localize the foot when it attacks ground, i.e. touching ground from air. This system classifies FSRs data by BP neural network to obtain the start point for each basic stroke. Also the force sensor can classify the location of stroke starting point from another aspect. Finally, low cost optical tracking sensor is used to draw the stroke. Experiments validate the design of the shoe writing system.