Shoes-wearable foot mechanism mimicking characteristics of human's foot arch and skin

In this study we describe a shoes-wearable foot mechanism which mimics human's foot arch structure and the characteristics of the foot skin to examine the effect of the human foot on biped walking. We approximate the arch structure by a rotational spring and model the human's foot skin with compression springs. The mimesis of the foot arch elasticity is realized by using compression springs. Regarding the characteristics of human's foot skin, first we develop a measuring equipment to measure the human's plantar transverse elasticity. We set the target value of the modulus of transverse elasticity of the foot skin to 11.2 N/mm, and we set the modulus of compression elasticity to 0.136 MPa, referring to a relevant study. The characteristics of human's foot skin are mimicked by using a super-soft urethane resin called Hitohada-gel with 8 mm thick. Through evaluation tests we confirmed that the shoes-wearable foot mechanism could mimic well the characteristics of human's foot arch and skin.