Unfortunately, diabetes can lead to dangerous complications that often result in the amputation of a foot, or in some cases, death. Foot ulcers are usually the primary cause of these incidents. Cognizant of this, a team from EPFL has collaborated with the Geneva University Hospitals (HUG) to develop a first-of-its-kind smart shoe.
The researchers have created a smart sole with valves that electronically control the pressure applied to the arch of a wearer’s foot. The objective here is to relieve ulcers commonly caused by diabetes, while helping them heal to avoid dangerous secondary infections.
According to team, doctors are faced with three different challenges: they need to find a way to remove all pressure from the ulcers as soon as they appear, keep it off as long as necessary for them to fully heal, and quickly react to new ulcers, which can reappear at any time elsewhere on the arch of the foot. To meet these demands, the researchers decided to embed the sole of a shoe with around 50 small electromagnetic valves filled with magnetorheological material, which allows them to control the viscosity.
“When we apply a magnetic field, the particles react immediately and align themselves with it, causing the material to change from liquid to solid state in a fraction of a second,” explains Yves Perriard, the director of EPFL’s Integrated Actuators Laboratory.
What this means is that the rigidity in different parts of the sole can be managed separately depending on where the sensitive areas and wounds are. The hope is that this system won’t only help the wounds heal quickly, but prevent the onset of new ulcers as well.
In terms of its electronics, the shoe is equipped with batteries and an indicator, a ‘mini shock absorber’ consisting of a pressure sensor and control valve, as well as a circuitry in the middle of the sole. Intrigued? You can check out the team’s entire study here.
[Images: EPFL/A.Herzog]