Sensing floor
A sensing floor is a floor with embedded sensors.
Depending on their construction, these floors are either monobloc.
or modular.
The first sensing floor prototypes were developed in the 1990s, mainly for human gait analysis.
Such floors are usually used as a source of sensing information for an ambient intelligence.
Depending on the type of sensors employed, sensing floors can measure load, proximity, as well as the magnetic field.
Sensing floors have a variety of usages:
- Gait analysis for human identification and continuous health diagnosis
- Mapping of the environment for autonomous robots
- Controller for interactive applications
Notable examples of sensing floors have been developed by Oracle, MIT, and Inria.
As of 2015, few sensing floors are available as commercial products, mainly targeting healthcare facilities.