TEAM 8: Insoul
Spring 2011

MEMBERS

PROJECT CONCEPT

We aim to provide a solution that gives you a nice relaxing foot massage while you are busy working at your office. A portable foot massager that fits right into your shoes will be just the stress reliever needed to ease your stress and worries as you work away in your office.

 

Objective:
To provide a nice relaxing foot massage while you are busy working at your office.

We aim to develop a shoe with a built in massager. The massager will be controllable via zigbee or bluetooth or IEEE 802.11 throught a smart phone. You may be toiling away at your desk or sitting in a day long meeting. There is nothing better than a foot massage to ease your stress while you work.

The system will be based on an air coushion massaging system, which will inflate to a desired firmness before begining to massage the pressure points in the foot. The massager will also be able to monitor heart rate so as to gauge the stress level of the subject. The system will communicate with the users smart phone and provide controls and real time heart rate information to the user about their stress level (via heart rate).

Additional features:
Weight sensor : measure the weight of subject.
pedometer: to meausre the number of steps taken while walking or running.
Provision for dynamic foot support while running via the inflation of the cushion.

The system will be able to keep track of a persons stress levels at work and can also be used in an atheletic setting. If developed as an add on to the shoe, the system will be able to support multiple users via individual user profiles.

The system will relay real time information from the sensors to the smart phone.


Hardware
1. Gumstix board or the freescase module from 18348 (any 16 bit processor)
2. SDcard for memory (optional)
3. Wifi card/Bluetooth radio/ zigbee radio

Protocols
1. Bluetooth protocol
2. IEEE 802.11 (WiFi)
3. Zigbee Risk and risk mitigation 1. Potential health risk to consumers as the foot contains many nerve endings and improper stimulation can cause health problems.

MOTIVATION

Work is stressful, and taking your shoes off is unprofessional. Unfortunately, hosting business meetings in a massage parlor is not a standard practice, so we aim to compromise by creating inconspicuous insoles. Relaxed workers are shown to be more productive and generally in better spirit.

COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS

These are interesting products, but are immobile while being worn and are not suited for business environments!

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

 Hardware:

Architecture

Use Case:

REQUIREMENTS

To be completed.

RISKS & MITIGATION STRATEGIES

TIME LAPSE

To be completed.

PRESENTATIONS & VIDEOS

First presentation (3 slides)

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