• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.167-175
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• 2015

In the current study, the design methodology has been developed to produce shoe mold for a suitable walking shoes of the general Korean using ANN (Artificial Neural Network). To design the suitable and comfortable shoes for the Korean, the shapes of foots were measured for 513 people. In this research, the foot length, breadth and ankle were considered as design parameters. In order to find the optimal foot shape for the average value of design parameters, the average value of design parameters and the other measurements were used as input and output to the ANN. After training, the various foot measurements were predicted by ANN. Base on the ANN results, the walking shoes were manufactured by considering these measurements and designing a shoe mold. From the results, the proposed method could give a more systematic and feasible means for manufacturing walking shoes with greater usefulness and better generality.

• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.1-8
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• 2006

The purpose of this study was to evaluate normalized jerk according to shoes, slope, and velocity during walking. Eleven different test subjects used three different types of shoes (running shoes, mountain climbing boots, and elevated forefoot walking shoes) at various walking speeds(1.19, 1.25, 1.33, 1.56, 1.78, 1.9, 2, 2.11, 2.33m/sec) and gradients(0, 3, 6, 10 degrees) on a treadmill. Since there were concerns about using the elevated forefoot shoes on an incline, these shoes were not used on a gradient. Motion Analysis (Motion Analysis Corp. Santa Rosa, CA USA) was conducted with four Falcon high speed digital motion capture cameras. Utilizing the maximum smoothness theory, it was hypothesized that there would be differences in jerk according to shoe type, velocity, and slope. Furthermore, it was assumed that running shoes would have the lowest values for normalized jerk because subjects were most accustomed to wearing these shoes. The results demonstrated that elevated forefoot walking shoes had lowest value for normalized jerk at heel. In contrast, elevated forefoot walking shoes had greater normalized jerk at the center of mass at most walking speeds. For most gradients and walking speeds, hiking boots had smaller medio-lateral directional normalized jerk at ankle than running shoes. These results alluded to an inverse ratio for jerk at the heel and at the COM for all types of shoes. Furthermore, as velocity increased, medio-lateral jerk was reduced for all gradients in both hiking boots and running shoes. Due to the fragility of the ankle joint, elevated forefoot walking shoes could be recommended for walking on flat surfaces because they minimize instability at the heel. Although the elevated forefoot walking shoes have the highest levels of jerk at the COM, the structure of the pelvis and spine allows for greater compensatory movement than the ankle. This movement at the COM might even have a beneficial effect of activating the muscles in the back and abdomen more than other shoes. On inclines hiking boots would be recommended over running shoes because hiking boots demonstrated more medio-lateral stability on a gradient than running shoes. These results also demonstrate the usefulness of normalized jerk theory in analyzing the relationship between the body and shoes, walking velocity, and movement up a slope.