Instrumented Insole for Plantar Pressure Measurement in Sports Iv´ an Echeverry-Mancera, William Bautista-Aguiar, Diego Florez-Quintero, Dayana Narvaez-Martinez, and Sonia H. Contreras-Ortiz (B ) Universidad Tecnol´ogica de Bol´ ıvar, Km 1 V´ ıa Turbaco, Cartagena, Colombia scontreras@utb.edu.co http://www.utb.edu.co Abstract. Novel technological aids have been developed to evaluate sport performance. Among these tools there are wearable sensors that monitor physical and physiological variables during the execution of exer- cises. This paper describes the design and construction of an instru- mented insole for acquisition and transmission of plantar pressure. The system was designed to support heavy weights, such as in weightlifting. It uses five high-range force sensors located in relevant anatomical points. It can be worn comfortably by the athlete and plantar pressure can be transmitted wirelessly to be registered and visualized in real-time. Keywords: Technology in sports · Biomechanics · Plantar pressure Wearable device 1 Introduction Electronic systems for sport performance monitoring use sensors and wireless communication to acquire and transmit data to a computer or mobile device. They can be used to quantify performance and determine optimum techniques [12, 16]. Weightlifting is one of the most popular sports in Colombia. It consists on lifting a bar loaded with discs. There are two competition modalities: snatch, and clean and jerk. In snatch, the bar is elevated without interruption from the floor to a position overhead with a squad. In clean and jerk, the bar is lifted in two phases: from the floor to the shoulders, and from the shoulders to a position overhead. In both techniques, adequate feet position is fundamental for a safe and efficient execution of the exercises. The feet of weightlifters support high amounts of weight for short periods of time, and pressure is unevenly distributed on the soles, so pressure monitoring can be useful to evaluate efficiency and assess risks. The study of static and dynamic plantar pressure is an important task in ergonomics, medicine and sports [2, 4, 7, 9, 11, 13]. Plantar pressure systems allow to estimate the foot’s center of pressure (COP), evaluate stability and balance, and detect abnormal conditions. Previous works describe the development of in-shoe systems that have been designed for gait analysis. In 1992, Wertsch et al. developed a portable system that consists of two insoles that have seven con- ductive polymer sensors each to measure plantar pressure during normal activ- ities [17]. Shu et al. developed a measurement system based on a textile fabric c  Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2018 J. E. Serrano C. and J. C. Mart´ ınez-Santos (Eds.): CCC 2018, CCIS 885, pp. 252–259, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98998-3_20