The aim of the project is to develop a new method that enables the measurement of the interior volume of different footwear. A system is to be created by processing parameters describing the interior of the shoe and the foot via AI-based methods, which will pre-select a shoe for its potential buyer (customer in a retail store or customer in an online store) in a fit-oriented manner depending on the individual foot shape. Insufficiently fitting footwear can lead to serious foot deformations (e.g. hallux valgus, hammer toes, claw toes), which have to be treated with medical aids and remedies and consequently cause enormous costs for health insurance companies. If buyers are given a tool with which they can select their footwear according to their individual foot shape, there is a high potential for savings in this area. However, the targeted pre-selection of suitable footwear for the customer not only reduces the costs that arise as a result of unsuitable footwear due to foot deformations, but also the costs that arise for companies and their customers due to returned goods and is therefore also a sensible improvement from a sustainability point of view compared to the "trial and error" procedure that has prevailed to date when buying shoes.

Acknowledgements

We would like to express our gratitude for the funding of the research project with the funding code 49MF220194 , which was provided as part of the program to promote “Industrial Collective Research (IGF)” from the budgetary funds of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE) on the basis of a resolution of the German Bundestag via the German Aerospace Center (DLR) as the project management agency.