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ECE 477: Digital Systems Senior Design Last Modified: 11-17-2019

Initial Project Proposal

Year: 2020 Semester: Spring Project Name: Power LacesCreation Date: November 1, 2019 Last Modified: November 17, 2019

Team Members (#1 is Team Leader):Member 1: Michael Cupka Email: [email protected] Member 2: Gloria Chen Email: [email protected] 3: Owen Graffis Email: [email protected] Member 4: Surya Kondeti Email: [email protected]

1.0 Description of Problem:Shoes and shoelaces have been worn for roughly 5000 years [1]. That’s 5000 years of

bending over or lifting up your leg to correct something that has the possibility of not having to be corrected at all. Shoelaces have burdened almost everyone since their conception, ranging from modern day soldiers on the front lines where tying their shoes could mean seconds lost that may jeopardize their life or the safety of others, to people with certain conditions that may not allow them to tie their shoes at all. Although tying shoes is not a problem, it is an inconvenience that has become all too ingrained and included in our lives. With the rise of smart-apparel, there is no better time to solve this waste of exertion than with shoes that do not need to be tied.

2.0 Proposed Solution:The solution to the problem specified in part 1 of this proposal is a self-tightening shoe

that can be engaged with sensors placed at the heel, making it truly hands-free. The shoe would also use a pedometer to track steps and would transmit the data collected to a web application so that the user can easily access the data. A power supply will be attached to the side of the shoe and connected through the heel to the pcb.

The self-tightening portion of this shoe would be achieved by placing motors on the shoes to tighten the laces of the shoe. A pedometer will be used to track steps of the user. A pressure sensor will be placed in the heel as well and will trigger the tightening mechanism. A button on the back of the shoe will be used to loosen the shoe.

3.0 ECE477 Course Requirements Satisfaction

3.1 Expected Microcontroller ResponsibilitiesECE477 is an embedded systems course which emphasizes the use of a microcontroller

to create a finished product. For the project, a microcontroller will be used for the purposes of controlling motors to tighten the shoe, retrieving data from pressure sensors at the heel of the shoe to initiate the sequence of the tightening of the shoe, as well as collecting and sending data collected a pedometer, to a web interface for the users to be able to easily see their progress.

3.2 Expected Printed Circuit ResponsibilitiesECE477 is an embedded systems course which requires the creation and use of a PCB

designed by the team. For the project, a PCB will be designed so that it incorporates the microcontroller, power supply (batteries), pedometer, and a place to connect the motor, pressure

https://engineering.purdue.edu/ece477 of 8


sensor, and button to untighten the shoe. The PCB and batteries will be placed in a protective pouch attached to the side of the shoe.

4.0 Market Analysis:Self tightening shoes that can be engaged without the use of hands at all with health

tracking abilities are not limited to a singular group of people. The technology behind it could be applied to various types of footwear including boots and sneakers/cleats. These two categories alone cover the vast majority of consumers. Also regardless of shoe type, those with disabilities would benefit from this technology as well.

Those who wear construction boots, snowboarding boots, hiking boots and other types could benefit from this product when put in a situation where tying their boots could be difficult or hazardous. For example, on a construction site it may be difficult for a worker if they are in the middle of a task. While snowboarding, a person may have gloves on or in the middle of the slope when the boot needs to be tightened which would difficult.

If we were to put the technology on sneakers and cleats we would also be branching into a huge market for anyone who wears them, both athletically and fashionably. The athletic area may be more promising for our product because more scenarios where tying the sneakers would be difficult would come up. For example, runners while in a race wouldn’t want to lose time to tie shoes that have come unlaced. This could extend to cleats for athletes in other sports as well, including basketball, football and baseball.

In 2018, 172.2 million wearable health tracking devices were shipped/bought [2]. The health tracking aspect is also not just limited to those who work out intensively on a daily basis, but could be for anyone. Some may also find having the tracker/monitor connected and hidden in the shoe more appealing than on their wrist like a fitbit or other smart watch.

5.0 Competitive Analysis:

5.1 Preliminary Patent Analysis:

5.1.1 US8769844B2, Automatic lacing system:Inventors: Tiffany A. Beers, Michael R. Friton, Tinker L. HatfieldIssued To: Nike Inc



This patent describes an article of footwear with an automatic lacing system. According to the patent [3], “The automatic lacing system provides a set of straps that can be automatically opened and closed to switch between a loosened and tightened position of the upper. The article further includes an automatic ankle cinching system that is configured to automatically adjust an ankle portion of the upper.” The design involves a cavity in the sole of the shoe that houses a motor used to tighten and loosen the shoe. It utilizes a weight sensor embedded into the sole of the shoe as well as a user controlled device such as a switch or button to control the tightening and loosening of the shoe.

This design allows for the motor system to be hidden from the user, so as to improve the appearance of the shoe. However, a motor embedded in the bottom of the shoe might cause problems if the motor system isn’t durable enough to handle repeated wear that would come with running or walking on the shoes.

This design also has two different parts that tighten. In the lace area, straps connected to the motor in the sole are used to tighten the top of the shoe. At the same time, an ankle cinching system higher up in the shoe uses a coil spring to tighten a strap at the user’s ankle. This two-part system helps to improve the support provided by the shoe.

5.1.2 US4510704A, Boot or shoe incorporating pedometer or the like :Inventor: William N. Johnson

This patent describes a system for counting and displaying steps via a system embedded in a shoe’s heel. According to the patent [4], “Where electronic counting means is used, the boot or shoe may incorporate a microprocessor and may be arranged to display, at will, such quantities as total number of steps made distance walked, means speed, etc., and may even be associated with pulse rate or blood pressure sensing means whereby these quantities may also be displayed.” The patent mentions that the methods for collecting and displaying the data may be mechanical or electrical in nature.

This patent is expired but bears similarities to our idea of a fitness tracking shoe that uses sensors and a microcontroller. However, while this design displays pedometer and health information on the shoe itself, our design will involve the microcontroller in the shoe transmitting the information to a web server that will format the data for viewing on a website. Like our design, this design involves embedding electronics in the heel of the shoe. The use of a boot-like design, such as the one in the patent’s diagram, would help by providing more room within the heel to place equipment.

5.1.3 US8935860B2, Self-tightening shoe:Inventor: George Torres

This patent describes another system for automatically tightening shoes. According to the patent [5], “It is a principal object of the present invention to provide a self-tightening shoe which, upon activation by the user, tightens itself on the user's foot to a preprogrammed, comfortable level of tightness.” The patent mentions that the desired tightness of the shoe would



be configurable and stored in a piece of electronic memory. It also mentions the use of an electronic logic device that would activate the tightening process.

The design proposes multiple straps, each spanning across the top of the shoe. Each strap would be connected to a motor and each motor to a battery. This design would allow for distribution of the force required to tighten the shoe across multiple motors. Similarly, the power being consumed would be distributed across multiple batteries, thereby reducing the potential battery size. However, more embedded batteries could present complications with regards to the charging system and potentially increase the safety risk.

The patent also proposes a control panel on the side of the shoe for selecting and saving tightness settings. This differs from our design, which will be configured via an online interface.

Like the first patent mentioned, this design involves electronics embedded in the sole of the shoe. This creates the same potential problem involving the durability of the electronics in the shoe. The equipment should be able to withstand typical wear associated with regular walking or running activities.

5.2 Commercial Product Analysis:

5.2.1 Nike MAG:



The Nike MAG is the first shoe by Nike that has self-lacing capabilities. It directly corresponds to the first patent in the patent analysis section [3]. The shoe is a replica of the power-lacing shoes from the movie “Back to the Future Part II.” Only 89 pairs were made and raffled off in 2016, with proceeds going to charity [6].

This shoe represents the first commercially released version of self-tightening shoes. This shoe has two tightening mechanisms, one for the foot and one for the ankle. This helps to secure the shoe to the wearer. The electronics that tighten the shoe are also hidden from sight inside the back and sole of the shoe. This contributes to visually appealing design of the shoe, a quality that is desired in footwear.

This shoe was of very limited release and a pair would run a buyer multiple thousands of dollars. Our group would be aiming to design a more reasonably priced product. Our design will also incorporate other functionality that the MAG does not, such as a step counter and internet connectivity to track your progress.

5.2.2 Fitbit Tracker Products:

Fitbit trackers are wrist-worn fitness trackers that monitor a user’s fitness information such as steps and heart rate [7]. These products provide information to the user similar to the information that our team’s shoe would provide via the online interface. However, our shoe would not be able to track heart rate information. Fitbit products have the benefit of being independent from the footwear the user is wearing. This means that the user could wear any shoes they want and get the same level of tracking information. However, a disadvantage could arise if the user is in a profession that doesn’t allow the use of watches while working. In this case, fitness tracking technology embedded in a shoe would allow the user to track their fitness while at work.

5.2.3 Nike HyperAdapt 1.0:

This shoe is the latest self-tightening design from Nike. It was initially released in 2017 in very small quantities and has seen multiple other small-quantity releases since then [8]. This



shoe features a more durable design than the Nike MAG. It also feature self-tightening capabilities that activate via a sensor in the heel that detects when the wearer puts the shoe on [9].

The pressure-activated tightening is something that our team also aims to implement for our project. This feature improves the ease-of-use of the product. The sleek-looking design of the HyperAdapt increases the fashion appeal of the product. The durability and focus on practical use is something that majorly distinguishes the HyperAdapt from the MAG. However, similar to the MAG, this shoe is not widely available yet and is too expensive for the average consumer. Our team’s shoe design would be affordable. Our design will also have fitness-tracking capabilities that the HyperAdapt does not have.

5.3 Open Source Project Analysis:

5.3.1 Open mHealth:Open mHealth is an open source project created to aggregate health tracking data [10].

It’s a basic schema for others who are collecting data from various health tracking devices to make sense of the data collected. There are various other open source projects based off of Open mHealth such as Shimmer, an open source project for converting data collected from existing devices such as fitbit devices and transforming the data to be easily used in an application [11]. These open source projects could be used to help the data collected from the sensors easily be aggregated to be displayed in the application.

5.3.2 OpenScale:The OpenScale is an open source solution for measuring weight and temperature. The

OpenScale will enable you to turn a load cell or four load sensors in a Wheatstone bridge configuration into the DIY weigh scale for your application [12]. This peripheral may be used under the heel of our prototype shoe to initiate the tightening procedure.

5.3.3 Power Laces Instructables Article by Blake Bevin:

On July 3, 2010, an instructables user named Blake Bevin posted an article about her self-tightening shoe design [13]. Inspired by the Back to the Future Part II power-laces, Bevin’s design features a self tightening system initiated by a weight sensor. This is similar to our project. Bevins uses an arduino and a motor controlling shield to control the tightening mechanism. We will not be using an arduino, but could use her design as a resource for understanding how communication with a motor controller could work, as well as inspiration for how our tightening system could work mechanically.

6.0 Sources Cited:

[1] D. Rees, “Fun Facts About Shoelaces.” National Geographic, Sept. 19 2014. Accessed on Nov. 13, 2019. [Online]. Available: www.nationalgeographic.com.au/science/going-deep-with-david-rees-fun-facts-about-shoelaces.aspx.



[2] S. Liu, “Fitness & activity tracker - Statistics & Facts.” Statista, May. 22 2019. Accessed on Nov. 16, 2019. [Online]. Available: https://www.statista.com/topics/4393/fitness-and-activity-tracker/

[3] Automatic lacing system, by T.A. Beers, M.R. Friton, T.L. Hatfield. (2014, Jul. 8). US8769844B2. Accessed on: Nov. 17, 2019. [Online]. Available: https://patents.google.com/patent/US8769844?oq=self+tightening+shoes

[4] Boot or shoe incorporating pedometer or the like, by W.N. Johnson. (1985, Apr. 16). US4510704A. Accessed on: Nov. 17, 2019. [Online]. Available: https://patents.google.com/patent/US4510704?oq=shoe+with+pedometer

[5] Self-tightening shoe, by G. Torres. (2015, Jan. 20). US8935860B2. Accessed on: Nov. 17, 2019. [Online]. Available: https://patents.google.com/patent/US8935860B2/en?q=self&q=tightening&q=shoes&oq=self+tightening+shoes

[6] “Nike Mag,” Wikipedia, 13-Oct-2019. [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nike_Mag#2016_release. [Accessed: 17-Nov-2019].

[7] “Fitbit,” Wikipedia, 17-Nov-2019. [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fitbit#Products. [Accessed: 17-Nov-2019].

[8] “Nike HyperAdapt 1.0,” Wikipedia, 26-Sep-2018. [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nike_HyperAdapt_1.0. [Accessed: 17-Nov-2019].

[9] “Nike HyperAdapt,” Nike HyperAdapt. Self-Lacing Shoes. Nike.com, 2019. [Online]. Available: https://www.nike.com/us/en_us/c/innovation/hyperadapt. [Accessed: 17-Nov-2019].

[10] “Open mHealth” Open mHealth, 2019. [Online]. Available: https://www.openmhealth.org/ [Accessed: 17-Nov-2019].

[11] “Shimmer” Shimmer, 2019. [Online]. Available: http://www.getshimmer.co/ [Accessed: 17-Nov-2019].

[12] OpenScale, “sparkfun/OpenScale,” GitHub, 15-May-2019. [Online]. Available: https://github.com/sparkfun/OpenScale. [Accessed: 17-Nov-2019].

[13] B. Bevins, “Power Laces- the Auto Lacing Shoe,” Power Laces- the Auto Lacing Shoe, 03-Jul-2010. [Online]. Available: https://www.instructables.com/id/Power-Laces-the-Auto-lacing-shoe/. [Accessed: 17-Nov-2019].



Appendix 1: Concept Sketch


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