Organizational Unit:
Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program
Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program
2020-05
,
Hrach, Jonathan
This works presents Air Mag, a foot wearable that uses pneumatic actuation and acoustic sensing for a wide range of foot interactions. With wearable devices such as smartwatches becoming increasingly popular, we aimed to explore the possibilities of increasing the interactivity of a shoe, a much more popular wearable associated with
being on the go. Using a known air pouch fabrication technique to construct airtight sealed pouches, we introduce a device that uses a pneumatic actuation system to rapidly deflate and inflate air pouches, providing a tightening sensation to the end-user. We also use a known acoustic sensing technique to detect the deformation of the air pouches in real-time using a microphone and speaker. Our results show several advantages and limitations of using such methods in the context of foot wearables and introduce future development of our wearable. Such a device can serve as a novel method for gait recognition, create toe input gestures, or be used as a tangible interface for haptic feedback.