In the recent years, technology has started playing a huge role in terms of getting individuals to pursue healthier lifestyles. Devices that allow users to track their daily activity become very common in order to provide them data that will help them become more active and track their process. However there are no devices at the moment that overcome the inconvenience of having to step on a scale to determine one’s weight, especially upon request, wherever and whenever. ECE Design Team 2 of Spring 2016 proposes to overcome this challenge by designing a in shoe weight sensor that is connected to a bluetooth emitter that can communicate with a smartphone application. This smartphone application will then use the obtained voltage information from the circuit that will be placed in a shoe, and convert the obtained data to weight information. This proposed design will consist of a hardware structure that has two force sensors that will be placed in per shoe, connected to a rechargeable battery source, a bluetooth transmitter and a software application that lives in the user’s smartphone. The user will have the leisure to use the phone application to detect their weight. By pressing one button, the phone application will make a bluetooth request which will cause the phone to with communicate the bluetooth transmitter placed in the shoe where the microcontroller incorporated in the system will respond back to the smartphone with the current voltage output of the circuit. The smartphone application will also store some of the previously obtained information to provide the option to track progress.

In an effort to become healthier, many people have begun to look to technology as a means of bettering themselves. With the rise and success of many of these devices such as FitBit and Nike ID, the future of this market looks bright and new devices are being constantly introduced. The reason for the success for many of these devices is allowing users to track their progress towards becoming a healthier, more active person.

To this end, Dr. Wolfgang Bauer began to gain an interest in the features of these many health oriented devices. During his investigation, he realized that one of the most important factors in determining someone’s health, their weight, was absent from all current offerings. For this reason, Dr. Bauer began to consider the possible solutions that would allow an individual the ability to constantly monitor their weight throughout the day.

In the past, the only viable option to see someone’s weight would be to step on a scale. While being useful at the end or beginning of the day, this left a large gap in between meals, exercise and other common activities completed throughout the day where a person’s weight fluctuation was unknown. For this reason, Dr Bauer determined that having a device that could give a user their weight instantaneously throughout the day would be the most effective tool in gaining insight as to how one’s daily routine reflects on their weight.

After considering some possible solutions, the concept of an in-shoe force sensor was ultimately chosen as the best option. By installing the device in a pair of shoes, the user would be able to view their weight throughout the day so long as they have their shoes on. In order to make the device more user friendly and commercially accepted, the shoe would also have to connect to a smartphone via a wireless connection. This would allow users to navigate a simple application in order to view the read out of their in-shoe weight sensors. Additionally, the application would allow users to track their progress from day to day and gain the satisfaction of seeing progress made. By creating this novel device, a large gap that currently exists in health tracking devices would be filled and great strides could be made in the market.