Each second in the U.S., an older adult takes a fall, accounting for more than 27,000 deaths from falling among older individuals, according to the CDC.
A company based in Haifa, Israel, however, is working on a way to prevent those falls in the first place.
B-Shoe Technologies is working on a prototype for a shoe that senses imbalance in every step and uses a mini treadmill-like system to regain balance automatically.
The shoe combines a pressure sensor, a microprocessor, a motion device, and software to detect when the user may be slipping and roll forward or backward to prevent the fall.
B-Shoe Technologies says the prototype is in the very early stages, and that it plans to go into mass production in the next two years, after slimming down the design.
TechCrunch: The B-Shoe hopes to prevent seniors from falling down
As one who has reached an age sufficient to remove much of the sense of balance, I can tell you with some authority these shoes are as welcome to see as a floor with a fresh coat of wax and covered with banana peels.
Shoe: Balancing Shoe
These types of self-correcting shoes could stabilize a bag of potatoes and probably be good at it but, old as we may (i.e. definitely) have become, we're still animate, thinking creatures and we will try to fight the shoes, won't we. It won't even be our intention but we will do it.
Remember back to some woman on your bike and she would constantly try to correct the lean for a corner by trying to straighten back up again. We have our internal gyros and they won't permit us to deviate from that which we consider our normal orientation.
In a situation now in which my balance has gone unstable, those internal gyros are still functioning, they're just not doing it too well. If that problem is exacerbated by some device trying to correct for me then what chance do I have, mates. Moreover, if the shoes are designed for someone in a perpetually unstable state like that, what are they doing trying to walk anyway.
Ed: what about the woman who tried to straighten up the motorcycle?
Let her go. Those ones can't be trained, mate, and eventually that bike will go down. When you find one who can ride with you in triple digits and stay cool, you take care of her, Dagwood. Those ones are rare.
Ed: what if she is the hammerhead driver and I'm the passenger?
I guess we will find out if feminism is just a word at that time, won't we. Climb aboard, Evel Knievel.
A company based in Haifa, Israel, however, is working on a way to prevent those falls in the first place.
B-Shoe Technologies is working on a prototype for a shoe that senses imbalance in every step and uses a mini treadmill-like system to regain balance automatically.
The shoe combines a pressure sensor, a microprocessor, a motion device, and software to detect when the user may be slipping and roll forward or backward to prevent the fall.
B-Shoe Technologies says the prototype is in the very early stages, and that it plans to go into mass production in the next two years, after slimming down the design.
TechCrunch: The B-Shoe hopes to prevent seniors from falling down
As one who has reached an age sufficient to remove much of the sense of balance, I can tell you with some authority these shoes are as welcome to see as a floor with a fresh coat of wax and covered with banana peels.
Shoe: Balancing Shoe
These types of self-correcting shoes could stabilize a bag of potatoes and probably be good at it but, old as we may (i.e. definitely) have become, we're still animate, thinking creatures and we will try to fight the shoes, won't we. It won't even be our intention but we will do it.
Remember back to some woman on your bike and she would constantly try to correct the lean for a corner by trying to straighten back up again. We have our internal gyros and they won't permit us to deviate from that which we consider our normal orientation.
In a situation now in which my balance has gone unstable, those internal gyros are still functioning, they're just not doing it too well. If that problem is exacerbated by some device trying to correct for me then what chance do I have, mates. Moreover, if the shoes are designed for someone in a perpetually unstable state like that, what are they doing trying to walk anyway.
Ed: what about the woman who tried to straighten up the motorcycle?
Let her go. Those ones can't be trained, mate, and eventually that bike will go down. When you find one who can ride with you in triple digits and stay cool, you take care of her, Dagwood. Those ones are rare.
Ed: what if she is the hammerhead driver and I'm the passenger?
I guess we will find out if feminism is just a word at that time, won't we. Climb aboard, Evel Knievel.
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