Such “partnership” might prove useful to be the base of a self-lacing shoe for the elderly, who might find it difficult to tie their shoelaces, let alone slip laces into a pair of shoes no thanks to ailments such as arthritis and the like. Ah well, there is always the cheaper alternative – to use velcro.
Klevis Ylli from HSG-IMIT, a research centre in Villingen-Schwenningen, Germany, shared, “We have tried to power a wireless transmitter and to power a simple sensor. One application we are working on is indoor navigation which means we have sensors within the shoe that measure the acceleration of the foot, the angular velocity – whether you’re turning the foot or not – and the magnetic field. From the data from these sensors, you could calculate how far you have travelled and in which direction. So imagine a rescue unit walking into a building they don’t know. They could then track which way they went on their handheld device.”
It looks like there are many practical applications that could be associated with such an invention. Exciting times are certainly ahead of us.