Distribution of Shoes with Built-in 'Smart Insoles' for Tracking Location of People with Developmental Disabilities

District distributes 'Smart Insole' shoe insoles with GPS trackers to 39 people with developmental disabilities... Real-time location info sent to guardians' smartphones, enabling prevention of disappearance and independent living training

On the 16th, at the smart insole demonstration event, an explanation of the smart insole operation was given to a guardian of a person with developmental disabilities.

[Asia Economy Reporter Jong-il Park] Seongdong-gu (Mayor Jeong Won-oh) delivered GPS tracking shoe insoles called ‘Smart Insoles’ to 39 people with developmental disabilities in the area on the 16th, aimed at preventing disappearances and training for independent living, and held a demonstration event.

In June, the district decided to introduce and distribute the GPS tracking insoles ‘Smart Insoles’ that can be placed inside shoes, as there were limitations with the existing wandering detectors used for disappearance prevention, which people with developmental disabilities dislike wearing, especially since communication difficulties often lead to prolonged missing periods.

By simply placing the insoles inside the shoes normally worn, the location of the person with developmental disabilities is transmitted in real-time to the guardian’s smartphone, and if the wearer moves beyond a designated distance or location, an automatic warning text message is sent to the guardian, helping the individual to be active alone without guardian assistance.

The event involved delivering the Smart Insoles to the 39 selected families of people with developmental disabilities recruited in the first half of the year, and included a demonstration explaining how to use the insoles and link the application by the manufacturer to the guardians. The explanation was provided both in person and online simultaneously, so families who could not attend could also learn how to use the device.

Additionally, the Seongdong Disabled Family Support Center produced and distributed a ‘Smart Insole Handbook’ detailing self-commuting training and community adaptation training methods for students with developmental disabilities using the Smart Insoles, supporting their safe integration as members of the local community.

A district official stated, “Wearing the smart shoes enables location tracking in case of disappearance, preventing missing incidents. Above all, the ultimate goal of this distribution project is to allow people with developmental disabilities to engage in community activities independently without guardian assistance.” He added, “After distribution, we will continuously operate training programs reflecting the characteristics of people with developmental disabilities, such as social adaptation training, and steadily proceed with the independent living project.”

Previously, the district led support for preventing wandering of dementia patients by distributing shoes called ‘Kkokkashin’ equipped with GPS insoles to 100 elderly dementia patients.

Jeong Won-oh, Mayor of Seongdong-gu, said, “This project was prepared to alleviate some of the psychological burdens of families of people with developmental disabilities who face various difficulties.” He added, “Starting with the distribution of the dementia patient smart shoes ‘Kkokkashin’ and now the disappearance prevention ‘Smart Insoles’ for people with developmental disabilities, we plan to expand various attempts to build the ‘Seongdong-type wandering prevention system’ in the future.”