Intelligent Shoes Powered by Energy Harvesting (Wearable Europe 2019)

A new self-powered cost-effective solution is presented for wearable sensors with wireless connectivity. The complete sensor is integrated in a sole of a shoe and powered by energy harvesting from walking. The presented prototype shoe is equipped with forces sensors measuring the impact force at different positions of the sole. The collected data is processed and transmitted to a smartphone using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE). On the smartphone, the data is analyzed and visualized. Initial tests showed that the harvested energy is sufficient for a stable operation of the embedded system.

Juan-Mario Gruber studied Electronics at RWTH Aachen University. He made his PhD in the fields of process control of injection moulding. At the Institute for Plastics Processing (IKV) at RWTH-Aachen he was head of the research group for Process Control and Quality Assurance at the Injection Moulding department. After that he worked for Kistler Instrumente AG, Switzerland, as head of development and head of business field "Production Monitoring". Today he is professor and head of the research area "Energy Autarkic Embedded Systems" at the Institute of Embedded Systems at Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW).

The ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences is one of the leading universities of applied sciences in Switzerland. Teaching, research, continuing education and other services are both scientifically-based and practice-oriented.

As one of the leading Engineering Faculties in Switzerland, the ZHAW School of Engineering emphasises topics which will be relevant in the future. Distributed systems embedded in processes, also called Cyber-Physical-Systems (CPS), as well as industrial communications solutions, form the core competencies of the Institute of Embedded Systems (InES). Thanks to their networking between themselves and the Internet, these systems make up the Internet of Things, which is increasingly pervading all spheres of life. Our mission is developing products, implementing projects, transferring innovative solutions into practice and research.