How Haptic Footwear Works

Wearable devices are the new big thing in electronics. Many of us are already strapping on a contraption that tracks our steps and other fitness metrics, and smart watches are on the market. But a wearable that has been around for eons is now in on the embedded electronics trend — the shoe.

Electronics in or on shoes isn't exactly an unheard of concept. We already have shoes that light up when we walk and shoe sensors that communicate with fitness apps. And researchers have been working other handy 

Could these sporty shoes lead to easier navigation for the vision-impaired?

eatures into footwear, like GPS tracking to help keep tabs on the whereabouts of Alzheimer's patients, and sensors and wireless signals to help locate firefighters and other emergency workers in areas where GPS is likely to fa

The Technology Behind Haptic Footwear

Haptic feedback is simply feedback you can feel, usually via vibrations. The tiny technology that makes haptic footwear possible has been around for a while, and it's already present in so many electronic devices we use every day. Haptics can be simple to complex vibrations to convey information, like something particular going on in a game, a certain type of notification on a phone or a subtle vibratory cue to let you know you've successfully hit a virtual button on a tablet. The new Kindle Voyage e-reader provides haptic feedback on page-turns to simulate the feeling of pages sliding against each other. The new Apple Watch includes hardware they call the Taptic Engine that produces tapping and other sensations against the wrist of the wearer to give directions, notifications or even communicate with other Apple Watch users.

The necessary embedded computing components to create haptic feedback are widely available, and like all electronic components, they're getting smaller and smaller. They're also available in low-power varieties that allow for smaller batteries. This means they can be hidden more easily in small wearables, clothing and shoes.

The Lechal Haptic Shoe Prototype

The style of the Lechal shoe is a low-profile sport silhouette.

The Lechal haptic shoe was conceived by Anirudh Sharma, then a researcher at Hewlett-Packard Labs in Bangalore, India, as a way to give noiseless walking directions to visually impaired wearers via an affordable device. "Le Chal" means "take me along" in Hindi.

Sharma sketched the first prototype in 2010 and built it (with the help of two others) in 2011. That first build emerged from a Design and Innovation workshop in Pune, Maharashtra, India, held by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT's) Media Lab and College of Engineering.

Lechal Haptic Shoes and Insoles

  Krispian Lawrence, CEO of Ducere Technologies, holding a Lechal insole.

The shoe being developed by Ducere Technologies differs quite a bit from the prototype, but it will still give the user directions via haptic feedback. Instead of one shoe, the technology has been incorporated into both, and either the right or left shoe will vibrate to tell the wearer which way to go. The insoles designed to fit into your regular shoes work the same way.

The technology incorporated into thecommercial shoes and insoles likely includes quite different hardware than the prototype, but it still involves microcontrollers that can sync via Bluetooth with a smartphone app (which will be required to use the shoes or insoles), along with batteries, actuators and sensors that allow for even greater functionality. This wearable technology will help anyone navigate by foot via subtle vibrations in the shoes, but it has also been programmed to allow the user to tag locations via a tap of the foot. And fitness tracking capabilities have been worked into the footwear and accompanying app. The haptic footwear has even been designed to beep or buzz when the user gets a certain distance from the smartphone so that he or she knows to grab the phone.

Uses and Advantages of Haptic Footwear

In theory, haptic footwear could work in tandem with a cane to add directional feedback for visually impaired people.

As mentioned earlier, the Lechal shoe conceived as a low-cost option for visually impaired people to help them navigate on their own. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are around 285 million people with visual impairments, about 90 percent of whom live in low-income areas [source: WHO].

The app has accessibility features that don't require the user to have to look at anything on the screen. As designed now, a person can use the accompanying phone app to input his or her destination before leaving, either using voice commands or foot movements. The wearer can then pocket the smartphone and follow the directions that are sent to the shoes. The app can store common destinations, and for areas that aren't easily accessible via Google Maps, the user can have the shoes map the route and use the foot-tap tagging ability to mark any obstacles.

Other Electronic Footwear in the Lab

The founders of Ducere aren't the only ones who've toyed with the idea of turning shoes into electronic devices. But they do appear to be leading the way to bringing haptic footwear to the marketplace.

Another foray into haptic footwear was undertaken by Dhairya Dand of MIT's Media Lab. He developed an insole dubbed SuperShoes that includes three actuators, a touchpad at the toes and a microprocessor. It communicates to an app on a smartphone via Bluetooth, and was designed to learn your routines and tastes, suggest places you might want to visit and provide directions via haptic feedback through the actuators. Unfortunately, there are no current plans to develop the insole for retail.

Haptic Footwear Availability

Haptic shoes and insoles are expected to hit the market in 2015.

As of this writing, you can't run to the store and purchase haptic footwear, although if all goes as planned, you'll be able to order them online soon.

Ducere Technologies' Lechal footwear has been undergoing testing at L.V. Prasad Eye Institute in Hyderabad, India, and the company is pairing up with that and other eye institutes and nonprofits around the world in the hopes of providing the shoes to theunderprivileged at more affordable prices. Lechal shoes and insoles are slated to start shipping to consumers sometime in 2015, and you can go to their website and put yourself on the pre-order list now. The company also plans to release a software development kit (SDK) in early 2015 that will let developers sync their own apps with the Lechal app.

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Author's Note: How Haptic Footwear Works

Haptic shoes and insoles sound like handy new devices that I wouldn't mind owning. I already strap a fitness device onto my wrist every day that syncs with my phone, so putting insoles into my shoes that do the same job (and more) isn't out of the question. And they have more important applications than replacing my watchlike step tracker because they can (and were designed to) help people with visual impairments get around on their own. The fact that buying them might help someone else in need adds to the appeal.

Researching this article has also once again brought me into the world of embedded electronics and kind of makes me want to go buy some Arduino Lilypads and other components and start wiring up all my clothing to do various things. But perhaps, if other people make these wearables available first, I'll just go back to my dream project of making a robot.