iShoe Prototype Assists Wobbly Elderly Folk and Astronauts Alike

July 21, 2008

folk-and-astronauts-alike

iShoe Prototype Assists Wobbly Elderly Folk and Astronauts Alike

Forget the opportunistic naming conventions for a moment, and focus

on the tech and potential of the iShoe. Designed Erez Lieberman, a

graduate student in the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and

Technology, the iShoe could one day help doctors and NASA scientists

detect balance problems before a fall occurs. Currently, the iShoe

only diagnoses balance issues, but Lieberman theorizes that future

versions (iShoe 3G?) will actively correct bad balance with sensory

stimulation. If you know anything about falls (300,000 hip fractures

per year, 24% over 50 die within one year) or what happens when

astronauts return home from space (10 days of wobbly knees), the

iShoe couldn't come soon enough.

The iShoe actually began life as an experiment Lieberman conducted as

an intern at NASA. Astronauts routinely return home with a host of

balance issues thanks to the weightlessness of space, so Lieberman

and the rest of the iShoe team created a new algorithm that was

capable of looking at the pressure distribution of proprioceptors on

the feet and analyze what that data meant. Proprioceptors, in case

you didn't know, are sensory receptors which tell your brain where

body parts are in relation to other body parts and the objects around

you.

It took a family emergency to show Lieberman that the iShoe had

ramifications beyond just a few drunken astronauts. When Lieberman's

grandmother had a bad fall, he knew the tech could be used as

a " balance diagnostic " to help doctors and their patients prevent

falls before they occurred. The device's super-sensitive insole would

measure the pressure of the foot and report data to the doctor, and

in extreme cases an alarm would alert family or care givers to a

fall. " Help, I've fallen and I can't get up, " would be quickly

replaced with " Hey, I can walk just fine! Get off my damn lawn. "

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