6-Axis force/torque sensor for spike pins of sports shoes

This paper reports on a method to measure forces and torques acting on spike pins of sports shoes. We fabricated a 2 mm × 2 mm × 0.3 mm 6-axis force/torque sensor chip, which consists of 6 piezoresistive beams. From the resistance changes of the 6 beams, 6 components of forces and torques can be detected. The sensor chip was connected to a flexible printed circuit board (PCB) and covered with thin polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). Then, the sensor chip and flexible PCB were embedded in spike-pin-shaped epoxy resin. We calibrated the spike-pin-shaped sensor, and confirmed that 6-axis forces and torques were able to be detected by the proposed sensor.