RESEARCH USE
Our Unique Offering
The Stepscan® System is a pressure sensitive floor system with innovative hardware and sophisticated software. Two-by-two-foot interlocking electronic floor tiles can be configured according to need— from a single tile to a full floor— creating an expandable, customizable measurement platform.
Stepscan software reports critical parameters of gait and balance, with modules already developed for diabetic foot screening, concussions/TBI monitoring, and assessments for cerebrovascular accidents (CVAs) assessments, fall risk, and mobility. Combined with multi-subject tracking capabilities, custom report development, and international quality standards, Stepscan is a versatile research tool.
About Stepscan
Stepscan Technologies was kick-started in 2012 with the award of a $1.4 M Atlantic Innovation Award to build a pressure sensitive flooring system and software that tracks and analyzes how people walk. Today, Stepscan® is a state-of-the-art computerized assessment technology that tracks patterns in gait and balance as subjects move across the floor.
For the past decade, Stepscan has been selling our computerized gait and balance system internationally. The Stepscan system is trusted by some of the world’s most prestigious institutions including the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne Australia, the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Affairs Canada, the University of California, the University of Massachusetts - Amherst, and the University of New Brunswick, and used in multiple applications ranging from medical research and clinical rehabilitation, to sports performance assessments and simulated military training.
Stepscan Users say they love the system because it is versatile, user-friendly, time efficient (< 10 minutes/assessment), and made to meet the highest quality standards. Stepscan is the only medical plantar pressure measurement device in North America engineered to meet the technical requirements and performance standards developed by the International Foot and Ankle Biomechanics (i-FAB) Community’s Pedobarographic Group and is approved as a Class I medical device by U.S. FDA and Health Canada.
FEATURES:
- Reputable & Reliable
- Versatile, Expandable Platform
- Time Efficient
- International Quality Standards
Industry Challenges and How We Solve Them
Stepscan Technologies has a proud history of collaboration with academia. The Stepscan® system's features of accuracy, repeatability and large volume measurement area make it a desirable research tool. Furthermore, our team of committed engineers is able to provide additional services in order to meet your research needs.
Custom Report Development
Stepscan software’s flexible infrastructure enables our skilled engineers to rapidly develop custom automated reports. These custom modules quickly and easily provide you with your desired data, reducing time spent on post assessment data processing.
Hardware & API
Stepscan offers tiles (hardware) with an application program interface (API) that provides core foot-finding algorithms and basic position and direction information. This option allows you to use the Stepscan gait data in your own unique applications.
Customizable Platforms
Stepscan's click-together, interlocking floor tiles offer an expandable measurement platform of unlimited size and configuration. Systems can be configured according to need – from a single tile to a full floor – creating an expandable, customizable measurement platform.
Integration with Third-Party Technologies
Stepscan can support various levels of integration with third-party devices (technologies or software) to provide you with synchronized data sets from multiple data sources such as wearable GPS tracking sensors, heart rate monitors, motion capture camera systems, etc.
Equipment Rentals
We understand that funding is a major hurdle for many research projects, which is why we have the Stepscan Equipment Rentals for Researchers— a technology rental program specifically intended to make Stepscan more accessible to researchers and laboratories like yours.
How Stepscan Is Redefining Plantar Pressure Research
Stepscan, Cyber NB & UNB Collaborate to Pioneer Gait-Based Biometric Security
Stepscan had developed a new solution for contactless security, based on analyzing an individual’s footsteps using high-resolution, pressure-sensitive flooring. They turned to CyberNB as a cybersecurity expert to capitalize on this new technique. UNB’s research experts joined CyberNB and Stepscan to build on this success and test, validate and improve their solution.
“My team at UNB uses machine learning to better understand, assess, or control human movement and health,” said Dr. Erik Scheme, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and director of the Health Technologies Lab at UNB. “This first-of-its-kind project is an exciting opportunity to apply our expertise in the real world to validate and improve Stepscan’s novel, touchless biometric solution.”
Fall Risk Assessment Module
Falls are the leading cause of both fatal and non-fatal injures for older Americans and healthcare organizations absorb millions of dollars of fall-related expenses as operating costs every year. Evidence-based research shows that an individuals’s gait speed, rhythm, and symmetry, as well as postural sway and peak underfoot pressures can indicate their fall risk.
Given this, Stepscan’s ability to unobtrusively measure walking pattern and balance positions it to be an excellent objective fall-risk assessment tool. Stepscan’s engineers were able to modify their existing reports on gait, balance, and dynamic plantar pressure to hone in on the statistics linked with fall risk for older adults. The resulting Fall Risk module objectively measures key gait and balance performance indicators and calculates an aggregate Stability Score, which indicates the overall fall risk of senior patients (60 years of age or older).
The Stepscan Stability Score can be used to rate and track research participants in clinical studies on frailty and aging, conditions affecting mobility, or drug trials.
WANT TO SEE STEPSCAN IN ACTION?
Interested in learning more?
Talk to a Stepscan Product Specialist to discuss your specific needs and to see what Stepscan can do for you.