Design and Validation of a Smartphone-based Haptic Feedback System for Gait Training

This letter presents a novel vibrotactile haptic system controlled by a smartphone that can be used for gait training of older adults. Compared to previous works, the system's modularity as well as its smartphone-based controller and user interface can enhance its usability and promote regular gait training of users during their daily living. Given the prevalence of reduced stride length and speed in older adults, we developed a biomechanical data-driven approach to enable improving those outcomes via modifying their underlying surrogates. A subject study was performed by recruiting 12 young participants (19-39 years) to assess the efficacy of the haptic system and our approach based on biomechanical surrogates. It was found that the participants could significantly increase their thigh and shank extensions (i.e., the surrogates) via the feedback provided by our system, and those increases resulted in higher values of their stride length and walking speed. The results provide a clear proof-of-concept for the developed biomechanics-driven haptic system for gait training of older adults to potentially improve their mobility and living independence.