Fitness start-up seeking licensing partners creates insole that turns sneakers into the most accurate fitness tracker in the multi-billion dollar wearable market.
(Phoenix, AZ) When it comes to fitness tracker metrics, it turns out the foot knows a lot more than the wrist and heart.
As part of a five-year partnership with the U.S. Navy to optimize training, GoX Studio has developed the first smart insole that can measure propulsive power and metabolic efficiency.
In addition to these innovations, testing under the supervision of U.S. Army scientists confirms that GoX Studio’s patented SmartRun Insole and patent-pending algorithm is 11.7 times more accurate than leading consumer fitness trackers for calories burned. So accurate, in fact, that data nearly matches results from a $10,000 Cosmed VO2 mask machine and a $30,000 force plate: the clinical standards for measuring metabolism, calories burned, and ground force impact.
“We’re providing lab-accurate results without the lab,” said GoX Studio CEO and Co-Founder Joe Hitt. “We’ve discovered the science that will drive the next generation of fitness trackers. By measuring forces on the foot, we can optimize fitness training, reduce the risk of injury, and provide far more accurate results for calories burned and distance covered.”
In addition to improving accuracy, the GoX SmartRun Insole is the first in the world to measure: propulsive power, velocity, metabolic efficiency, stride symmetry, and peak forces from heel to toe.
Fortunately for consumers, the Navy partnership provides a provision that allows GoX Studio to use or license the technology commercially.
GoX SmartRun Insole is a Bluetooth-enabled carbon fabric nanomaterial with conductive electrodes inside a protective insole. To use, a person can lift their current sneaker insole and place the thin GoX insole underneath. They don’t feel the GoX SmartRun Insole when they walk or run. The insole automatically sends data to an App during or after exercise.
NXP Semiconductors®, the world leader in secure connectivity solutions for embedded applications, is currently collaborating with GoX Studio to optimize the insole solution with advanced sensor processing, multi-axis motion sensing, wireless connectivity via Bluetooth low energy (BLE), and efficient wireless charging while making it a miniaturized and seamless system hidden inside the insole.
GoX Studio plans first to pursue licensing strategies for their insole and algorithm to find shoe companies that want to turn their shoes into smart fitness trackers.
“We can make any running shoe smart,” says Dr. Bruce Floersheim, Chief Operations Officer and Co-founder of GoX Studio. “Ideally, we’d like to license our technology so a major shoe company can embed the insole directly in some of its shoes.”
If GoX Studio is unable to find a suitable licensing partner or partners, they plan to raise venture capital to bring all their products to market.
Testing of GoX Studio’s technology occurred under the supervision of U.S. Army Scientists in all kinds of conditions including different loads and at different temperatures. Testing involved twenty military veterans and ten recreational athletes. The tests were evenly split across men and women ranging in age from 18 to 60. Over 100 tests found GoX Studio’s algorithm provides accuracy within 95% of a clinical VO2 mask test.
According to Parks Associates, the fitness tracker industry is set to almost triple from one valued at $2 billion in 2014, to $5.4 billion by 2019. For more information, consumers and licensing partners should visit GoX Studio.com
About GoX Studio
At GoX Studio, accuracy wins. We discover technology that drives the next generation of fitness tracking devices. Our technology has broad uses to improve the performance and health of recreational and professional athletes, the elderly, and even soldiers and rescue workers in the field.
GoX Studio was co-founded by Joe Hitt and Bruce Floersheim, two service-disabled Army officers who went on to teach at the U.S. Military Academy and become recognized experts in the field of wearable robotics.
For more information, visit www.GoXStudio.com
Filed Under: Insole
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