Smart Shoe-sole Project
Product + Service Innovation | Interaction Design | Internet of things | January 2015 | Partnered with Poli.Design
Project developed with DotDotDot Design agency for Vibram and officially presented at
2015 Design Week in Milan.
How might we design and prototype smart and interactive shoe-soles along with a services/platforms
that will make sense to the business of Vibram.
Background
Vibram is a leading global company in the sole sector and during the last decade it has been successfully experimenting with innovative solutions, by integrating sensorial micro-technology in their core products. The company has been setting out in the field of big data to pursue innovative ways to address its marketing propositions with a forward thinking approach to the changing market and consumer trends globally.
Scope of the project
The project is about designing and prototyping smart shoe-soles along with a services + platforms to help Vibram leveraging the potential of big data by delivering new product service systems into the field of social internet of things.
Our class (MDS strategic design, Politecnico di Milano) has been working with design consultancy company DotDotDot. I was a part of a team of 3. We ( Max Yogoro, Silvia Podesta and me) worked on the project 'OnYourFeet' .
About the concept OnYourFeet
After studying and analyzing Vibram's market segments, customer base and also understanding the trend of internet of things we went through a brief process of ideation in order to come up with a service/ platform idea for smart shoe-sole that will make some sense to client's business.
This project leverages the advancements in technologies known as Internet of Things and exploits people’s new awareness and care for their own health. Being able to predict future diseases is everybody’s longed for frontier.
How do the smart shoe-soles work ?
While doing research, we found out that human feet can give all the information related to the body. The pressure points on feet and smart shoe-sole can generate health data, which can be helpful in predicting possible health issues in advance.
This is a prototype with a system of
sensors, embedded in shoe soles. These prototypes are made with the help of VVVV programming software and Arduino.
These prototypes were made at DotDotDot agency in Milan, Italy.
The Platform
#OnYourFeet is a platform that shifts the role of shoes from an equipment to a health interface. It is a digital health platform, connected to an interactive game. The application allows the user to become aware of the issues deriving from bad daily habit, such as inactivity, bad posture and poor gait. Here the soles plays the role of a technological hub, able to collect data and translate them in a social game application, where the players are the shoes themselves.
As one of the deliverables, we chose video as a medium to communicate our concept easily. Please see the video below to know the more about OnYourFeet platform.