Sci-fi films have taught us that one day we’ll be identified through quick eye scans, but researchers at Carnegie Mellon University are hoping to use a different body part — your feet. The university recently partnered with a company called Autonomous ID to create the new Pedo-Biometrics Research and Identity Automation Lab, which will be developing sensor systems that can be placed inside the soles of your shoes to monitor foot movement. The device — which has been dubbed BioSole — has been in development at Autonomous ID since 2009, and can reportedly identify a person within three steps with more than 99 percent accuracy.
BioSole shoe sensors can ID you after just three steps
Researchers at CMU are working on a new sensor that can identify you by the movement of your feet.
Researchers at CMU are working on a new sensor that can identify you by the movement of your feet.
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“Within the third step, it knows it’s you, and it goes back to sleep,” Autonomous ID president Todd Gray told the Associated Press. “If I put on yours, it would know almost instantly that I’m not you.” The new lab will not only help further development of the BioSole as a security tool, but also help test other potential uses, such as identifying the onset of diseases like diabetes and Parkinson’s. There’s no word on when the technology could make its way into commercial applications, but the team believes that it could have a major impact once available. “There is really no limit to what can be done with this new identity technology,” CMU professor Marios Savvides said. Though it’s not quite as comfortable as using your butt.
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