Gather Information By Soles Of Feet

Are you surprised? Don't be. This is not a fairy tale nor it is about “make it or fake it”. Recent studies are proving that humans can gather information from the vibrating driver;s seat or the soles of our feet. The interface of human being with the electronic world was mainly through eyes and ears. But with the increasing technological development, we have devices connecting via our senses of touch for the fingertips, chest, back, or even tongue. Recently the researchers from Mexico have designed a device which helps in communicating with the feet.



Moreover, a Dutch organization and General Motors have collaborated and tested the way of communication through the rear end. It was found potentially vital for communication. Ramiro Velazquez is an assistant professor in the Mechatronics and Control Systems Lab at Mexico's Panamerican University. He displayed  his computer-sole interface and told that this would be worn inside the shoe. This is the first device of its kind which stimulates the bottom of the feet and conveys information instead of enhancing the sensation.  His group stimulated an area of the foot that had a high concentration of receptors for texture and vibration.

This area is the meeting point of the arch and the ball of the feet along the outer edges of the sole. In this process the researchers used the miniature vibrating motors as used in the cell phones. They arrayed four rows of four motors for this purpose. These are available in the market for $10. These motors are used as actuators and can be activated separately at different vibrating frequencies to transmit the signals. This is how they communicate the directions and patterns. They first saw whether people were able to understand the directions as indicated by the vibration of the motors. For example, they made the heel to toe motors vibrate to indicate north or forward direction; from toe to heel to indicate south direction and so on.

It was found that only some of the information was not easily transmitted via foot communication. People had difficulties in determinig shapes such as a line or a square or a circle etc. this was because the vibrations are not limited to a certain part if the skin. It spreads over some part which makes it difficult to guess some shapes. Thus, the research has provided us with an immensely important tool for communicating the information. Though it is not totally foolproof, it can be used to help visually impared people to navigate. These people will benefit the most from this.