Sensorized Lace Adjuster Assembly for Bilateral Performance Tracking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Athletes desire a device to visualize and quantify their athletic performance metrics and prevent shoelaces from becoming tripping hazards during athletic activities.
Innovation Solution
A lace adjuster system with feedback assemblies on each shoe, including sensors and image capturing units, to measure and adjust shoelaces, providing enhanced statistical data and visual feedback for improved performance analysis and preventing tripping hazards.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If a lace adjuster system with feedback assemblies including sensors and image capturing units is added to each shoe, then performance tracking accuracy and visual feedback capability are improved, but device complexity and weight increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system is divided into separate feedback assemblies, each attached to individual shoes. Each assembly contains its own sensors and image capturing units, allowing independent operation and modular replacement. This segmentation reduces the complexity burden on any single component while maintaining overall system accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The feedback assemblies are designed to perform multiple functions: tracking athletic performance metrics, capturing visual feedback, and providing real-time data. By consolidating these functions into integrated assemblies attached to shoes, the system avoids the need for separate devices for each function, thereby managing complexity while enhancing measurement precision.
2Measurement precision
If feedback assemblies with sensors and image capturing units are attached to each shoe, then statistical data accuracy is improved, but weight of the shoes increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses multiple sensors and image capturing units distributed across both shoes, which may seem excessive for basic tracking. However, this redundancy partially compensates for the weight penalty by ensuring high statistical data accuracy through multiple measurement points and cross-validation of data from both feet.
3Measurement precision
If data from both shoes is combined for performance analysis, then measurement accuracy is improved, but processing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Data from sensors and image capturing units on both shoes is merged and processed together to provide comprehensive performance analysis. This combining of data streams improves measurement accuracy by capturing bilateral movement patterns, while the integrated processing architecture manages the complexity through unified data handling protocols.
Data Source
AI summary
A lace adjuster system for selectively adjusting shoelaces (12) of shoes (10A, 10B) of a user, including a first lace adjuster assembly (13) for use with the first shoe (10A) and a second lace adjuster assembly (13) for use with the second shoe (10B). Each lace adjuster assembly (13) includes (i) a lace adjuster (14); and (ii) a feedback assembly (15) that is mechanically coupled to the lace adjuster (14), the feedback assembly (15) selectively measuring statistical data of the user during an athletic performance, the feedback assembly (15) including a sensor assembly (216) that senses a performance characteristic of the user during the athletic performance; and a controller (360) that receives the performance characteristic and generates a statistical data point that is based at least in part on the performance characteristic. The statistical data points can be combined to generate a combined statistical data point having enhanced accuracy.