Design and development of SMART insole system for plantar pressure measurement in imbalance human body and heavy activities

Body balance and center of pressure (COP) of the human body are extensively studied to assist the patients who loss of the body balances. Many medical devices are developed to detect the human body imbalance and to measure COP. This research presents a new medical device to measure the plantar pressure distribution. The device is capable to monitor the physical body balance, to identify the pathomechanical dysfunction, to evaluate the treatments, and to improve sport skill performance. It is designed in the feature of the insole system which consists of the force sensors, microcontroller, and wireless module integrated with the real time graphical user interface (GUI) on Visual C# program. The insole system is able to measure the plantar pressure distribution, and is able to collect the force data for evaluating the treatment. It is able to use in heavy activities such as jumping and running. This system uses the wireless system for communicating between the insoles and the graphical user interface in PC, laptop, and smart phone.