Shoes and Leg Braces Integrated System for Abnormal Gait Detection

Abstract

In this paper, an integrated system, which includes an intelligent shoe and a refined leg brace, is introduced and is used to detect one's gait abnormalities. Four force sensing resistors (FSRs) are installed under the insole to sense the force distribution patterns of the foot. An inertial measurement unit (IMU) consisting of a three-dimensional accelerometer and a three-dimensional gyroscope, plus a bend sensor are both installed on the leg brace to sense the leg motion and the bend angle of knee, respectively. The proposed method for abnormal gait detection is based on the calculations of CoP (center of pressure) for feature generation and SVM (supporting vector machine) for multi-pattern classification. Testing results show that the system is qualified in the classification of four different types of gaits: tiptoe walking, toe-in walking, toe-out walking as well as normal walking.