Plantiga Technologies' AI-powered shoe sensor module aims to reduce injury risks

Plantiga Technologies, A Based in Vancouver movement analytic business, wanna has help people improve rehabilitation And reduce injury risks through A artificial powered by intelligence monitoring sensor pod that can be integrated In shoes, orthotics Or soles has analyze users' movement motives.

Plantiga East participant In To start up Battlefield has TechCrunch Disturb 2023, And while It is has been around For A while — he spear THE fifth generation of It is sensor pod, Arc5, In June of This year, It is Also had minimal exposure And funding, with only around $5.2 million has date.

Quin Sandler, co-founder And CEO of Plantiga, begin THE business as A side project with her father, Norman McKay, In 2017. But her father suddenly pass far due has aggressive prostate cancer two weeks After Plantiga obtained THE Seattle Sailors And THERE Lakers In A proof of concept pilot project, while THE business was going through THE Creative Destruction Laboratory accelerator program as part of A 2017 cohort.

Her late father spent years around Steps laboratories And knew if they could TO DO A Steps laboratory In A shoe, he would be change how has monitor people health, movement And well-being, which would be to have "A blue sky opportunity For A variety of populations," Sandler said.

by Plantiga AI East A movement coach called Norman, appointed After her late father, Sandler adds.

THE Arc5 can collect movement data For up has 12 hours, data allow health experts, if they are your foot doctor Or A specialist connected has A sports team, has TO DO knowledge In how THE person In question In moving. "Movement East A biomarker For human health," as THE business describe he, Since he can "predict rehab the results, injuries/fall risks, disease progression And to optimise performance."

"We to have developed models that will learn how A person moves Since four has five sessions, SO predict When they move differently Since their Baseline ", Sandler said. "OUR AI learn how A person moves, SO can monitor [that] For changes, suggest areas that need has be reinforced, assess member strength And more."

Picture Credits: Plantiga

THE node of THE challenge that Plantiga East solve East A that has has been persistent For A long time, even In OUR age of quantified self-technology. Put simply, measure people biomechanics In real world settings can be difficult has TO DO. Contrary to other movement analytic Or portable devices such as watches And rings that measure rooms of your body as lungs Or heart, by Plantiga monitoring sensor pod, THE the Internet of Things (IoT) system, can be integrated In "any of them type of shoe" has capture data “ecologically relevant movement" of human biomechanics anywhere — In THE gym, on THE field Or In between — without A camera, cable Or additional sensors, Sandler explain.

Plantiga Currently has around 90 clients, including elite athletes In sports teams through THE NBA, MLB, MLS, NFL, NHL And NCAA, as GOOD as physical therapists, the coaches, surgeons, athletic trainers, THE canadian Armed Forces And several other military.

Sandler added that he for has move downstream has THE wider consumer walk, which East Indeed A big opportunity. THE global sports technology walk East projected has increase has $55.14 billion by 2030, up Since $14.72 billion In 2023; THE global portable technology walk East e...