Intelligent footwear for patients with foot insensitivity

Project in collaboration with “Hôpitaux Universitaires de Genève”

Project description

The aim of this project is to create an innovative smart shoe, which will offload high plantar pressure and redistribute it dynamically on the sole in order to prevent foot ulcers and accelerate their healing. The offloading strategy is based on magneto-rheological (MR) pressure limiters. The insole will contain multiple MR modules with pressure sensors on top. An electronic board will be developed to acquire measurements of some tens of millivolts from the module’s pressure sensors simultaneously, as well as to supply the modules with sufficient energy, through battery power and gait energy harvesting. Through the development of the electronics and of a smart algorithm, the system will achieve plantar pressure redistribution, with low power consumption and high level of miniaturization. Unlike the existing cumbersome ulcer prevention solutions, the footwear will be comparable in size and aesthetics with standard footwear and will have an adequate battery lifetime, facilitating the everyday life of patients with diabetes.

Press Release

letemps.ch

Actualités EPFL

RTS la 1ère – CQFD – Au chevet des pieds des personnes diabétiques

24 heures – Diabète: Une chaussure intelligente pour prévenir l’amputation

NZZ – Hilfe für Diabetes-Patienten: Intelligente Schuhsohle soll Amputationen verhindern

Le Monde – Science et médecine – Des chaussures pour protéger les pieds diabétiques

SWI Swissinfo – Intelligente Schuhsohle soll Amputationen verhindern

Südostschweiz – Intelligenter Schuh hilft Diabetikern

Basellandschaftliche Zeitung – Intelligente Schuhsohle soll Amputationen verhindern

Medical Xpress – A smart shoe to help reduce diabetic amputations

Publications

Detection of Pressure or Flow Rate Variations in MR Valves through Magnetic Flux Analysis

D. Grivon; Y. Civet; Z. Pataky; Y. Perriard 

2016. the 19th International Conference on Electrical Machines and Systems (ICEMS2016), Chiba, Japan, November 13-16, 2016.

Experimental Investigation of the Dynamic Performances of a Miniature Soft Magneto-Rheological Shock Absorber

D. Grivon; Y. Civet; Z. Pataky; Y. Perriard 

2016. 2016 IEEE International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics, AIM 2016, Banff, AB, Canada, July 12-15, 2016. p. 240-245. DOI : 10.1109/AIM.2016.7576773.

Diabète. Chaussures intelligentes pour patients diabétiques

Z. Pataky; D. Grivon; Y. Civet; Y. Perriard 

Revue Médicale Suisse. 2016. Vol. Nouveautés en médecine 2015, num. 502, p. 143-147.

Design and characterization of a soft magneto-rheological miniature shock absorber for a controllable variable stiffness sole

D. Grivon; Y. Civet; Z. Pataky; Y. Perriard 

Archives of Electrical Engineering. 2015. Vol. 64, num. 4, p. 547-558. DOI : 10.1515/aee-2015-0040.

Système de régulation de pression agissant localement sur la peau et le tissu sous-cutané – System for Adjusting Pressure Locally on the Skin and Subcutaneous Tissue

Y. Perriard; Z. Pataky; D. Grivon; Y. Civet 

US10945911; EP3217831; US2017348181; EP3217831; WO2016075599.

2015.

Design and Characterization of a Miniature Soft Magneto-Rheological Shock Absorber

D. Grivon; Y. Civet; Z. Pataky; Y. Perriard 

2015. The 10th International Symposium on Linear Drives for Industry Applications (LDIA 2015), Aachen, Germany, July 27 – 29, 2015.

Design and Comparison of Different Magneto-Rheological Valve Configurations

D. Grivon; Y. Civet; Y. Perriard; Z. Pataky 

2015. IEEE/ASME International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronic (AIM 2015), Busan, Korea, July 7 – 11, 2015. p. 818-823. DOI : 10.1109/AIM.2015.7222639.

Bingham-Papanastasiou and Approximate Parallel Models Comparison for the Design of Magneto-Rheological Valves

D. Grivon; Y. Civet; Z. Pataky; Y. Perriard 

2014. AIM 2014, IEEE/ASME International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronic, Besançon, France, July 8-11, 2014. p. 168-173. DOI : 10.1109/AIM.2014.6878073.

Experimental Study of Non-Ideal Phenomena Affecting Magneto-Rheological Elastomers Piezoresistivity

D. Grivon; Y. Civet; Z. Pataky; Y. Perriard 

2014. AIM 2014, IEEE/ASME International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics, Besançon, France, July 8-11, 2014. p. 1381-1386. DOI : 10.1109/AIM.2014.6878275.