Sensole

The first insole with AI technology to help track and restore feeling for people with nerve pain.

What is Sensole?

The Sensole project aims to create the first AI-powered insole system to assist people with walking difficulties and nerve damage-related pain in their legs. SensArs, Touchlab Limited, QTSS, and Elitac Wearables work together on this project, which is funded by Eurostars. New materials help make sensors, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) turns these sensor readings into useful feedback for patients. Through neurostimulation, the system detects pressure and movement, providing real-time AI-driven adjustments. This approach supports patients who have lost sensation in their feet and experience nerve pain.

Current insoles with pressure sensors are not advanced enough to give patients the right kind of feedback. Our project aims to create a custom solution for nerve pain. The Sensole product will be a major step forward in making insoles that restore feeling and relieve pain.

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Why Sensole?

Many people suffer from chronic pain every day. This includes people with diabetes and those who have lost a leg. Wearable technology can help find better solutions for chronic pain. Right now, there is no solution that directly treats the causes of nerve damage problems. The current options are not good enough:

Medication only works for 30% of people.
Neuromodulation devices do not target nerve damage in the arms or legs.
Wearable devices for walking only give part of the information and do not track pain.

The Sensole project wants to solve these problems by creating a new insole with sensors. This insole will help monitor patients, give feedback for treatment, and provide real-time information for nerve stimulation.

Sensole project goals

Go beyond the latest pressure insoles: they are precise, quick, and long-lasting.

This project combines and improves on features of pressure insoles already on the market. First, it uses energy-efficient sensors that give very fast, real-time feedback. Second, it combines pressure and force measurements with movement data, giving a full picture of how a person walks, balances, and stands. Third, it uses flexible printed electronics, making the insole strong and very accurate, even on uneven surfaces. As a result, the new insoles can be used to monitor patients over a long time.

There is a big medical need: neuropathy is the main cause of pain, sores, and amputation in people with diabetes.

Sensory neuropathy is a condition where damage to nerves causes problems with feeling. It affects 7 million people in the EU and USA alone. Current treatments do not provide a good solution. The insole developed by Sensole, combined with nerve stimulation, helps restore feeling and reduce chronic pain. The Sensole project will also include studies to check how effective and useful the insole is.

Research consortium partners

Elitac Wearables focuses on developing wearables based on electronics integrated in textiles. Elitac Wearables works as a wearable development partner specialising on the product development, haptic feedback design and integration, electronic hardware development, integration of electronics into textile, prototyping and the coordination and scaling of production of the final product.

Elitac Wearables typically partners with organisations active in specific niche markets to commercialise the technology and wearables developed. Elitac Wearables sells standard, off-the-shelf haptic feedback R&D and rapid prototyping hardware and custom-made tactile displays. This hardware is used by universities, research centres and commercial organisations worldwide. Elitac Wearables develops all software and hardware for this product in house and values its relationships with suppliers to be able to manufacture new high-quality products rapidly.

SensArs Neuroprosthetics Sàrl (Sensars), founded in 2014 by Francesco Petrini, is the leader in neuromodulation technology. The MedTech start-up raised 1.1 million Euro funding for their development. Sensars’ mission is to revive sensation in the limbs by restoring the peripheral nervous system. This lowers the risk of falls, ulcers and amputation in patients with diabetic neuropathy complications. Sensars has partnerships with the world’s most prestigious institutions and clinics, and Francesco was awarded with the MIT Top Innovators under 35 award.

Touchlab Limited is founded in 2018 by Dr. Zaki Hussein who obtained a PhD in Intelligent Sensing and Measurement at the University of Edinburgh and Glasgow. It offers ‘e-skin’ to bring human-like precision and tactile sensing to robotics. Touchlab’s e-skin is thinner than human skin and can be wrapped around hard and soft surface. Applications include medical, on-land, underwater, and space robotics & machines.

Quantum Technology Super Sensors (QTSS) specialises in developing innovative smart materials that use quantum technology to create advanced sensors. Their QTSS Quantum Materials are environmentally friendly and can be printed onto various surfaces. QTSS’s technology is used in healthcare, robotics, consumer goods, and smart cities. The company has received multiple awards for its contributions to sustainable technology, including the IDTechEX Toxicant Replacement Hero Award and the Business Green ‘Breakthrough of the Year’ Award. Based in Northallerton, England, QTSS is committed to supporting companies in bringing their innovative product ideas to market.

Project result:

Development and implementation of a wearable sole for daily use
1. Smart wearable garment
2. Smart materials and sensors integrated
3. User requirements and user testing

Current status

The Sensole project started in February 2024. Current developments are on designing and fabricating the first version of the sole. In future steps, data will be gathered on user requirements, user walking pattern and validating the fabricated sole.

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