Talented students from NED University have developed an innovative new product: “Smart Shoes” designed to detect early signs of foot and leg health issues. The breakthrough creation was introduced during a private television program by students Vedika Rajpal and Jaweria Javed, along with their supervisor Muhammad Ali Akhtar.
Explaining the functionality of the shoes, Vedika Rajpal shared that the smart footwear is equipped with gait analyzers and advanced sensors linked to a monitoring system. “The idea behind these Smart Shoes is that by the age of 30 to 32, many people begin to experience subtle changes in their walking patterns. Issues such as imbalance or altered foot angles during movement often begin to surface,” she said.
Vedika added that these changes usually stem from underlying problems in bones and joints that start developing as early as 18 or 20 years of age. These Smart Shoes aim to identify such issues early on. “When a person walks for just a minute and a half wearing the shoes, the system analyses their walking angle, foot placement direction, pace, and the distance between both feet during movement. All this data is then uploaded to a portal,” she explained.
Jaweria Javed highlighted that the concept of Smart Shoes was initially proposed by their former supervisor, Syed Abbas Ali, and his team. “We instantly connected with the idea, especially because there hasn’t been any project like this in Pakistan so far,” she said.
Supervisor Muhammad Ali Akhtar further elaborated on the significance of this innovation, stating, “Most of us appear to be walking normally, but we rarely realise when our bones and joints start to weaken. By the time we feel pain, the problem has already progressed. That’s the gap we’re trying to fill with this invention.”
The Smart Shoes project marks a significant step in the field of wearable health technology in Pakistan and could play a critical role in early diagnosis and prevention of mobility-related issues.
