IIT Indore Develops Self-Powered Smart Shoes with Location Tracking

Recent reviews highlight the growing capabilities and limitations of wearable health and fitness devices. Consumer wearables like smartwatches reliably track steps and heart rate using optical sensors such as photoplethysmography, but their accuracy for sleep, stress, and blood pressure remains inconsistent, posing challenges for clinical use. Advances in wearable technology extend beyond health tracking, exemplified by IIT Indore's development of self-powered smart shoes that generate electricity from walking and provide real-time GPS and RFID tracking, primarily aimed at enhancing military operations. For gait and running biomechanics analysis, wearable inertial sensors offer a practical alternative to bulky laboratory systems, enabling accurate measurement of spatiotemporal parameters like cadence and stride length in real-world settings. Among fitness wearables, the Garmin 265 smartwatch impresses with its vibrant AMOLED display, accurate heart rate and GPS tracking, and comprehensive training features, positioning it as a superior choice for runners over entry-level models and even some mainstream smartwatches. These innovations collectively demonstrate the expanding role of wearable devices in health, performance monitoring, and practical applications, though challenges remain in standardization and clinical validation.