Our Project

The 2023-24 FLL season is MASTERPIECE. It is about the arts and hobbies.
In our team, we love sports, whether it is cricket, baseball, or swimming. Since a majority of our team plays tennis, we thought, "Hey! Let's make our project about tennis!"
After getting the topic, we thought about how we could optimize courts, racquets, and finally, shoes. We realized that many tennis players around the world get injured because of their shoe size.

This problem is not only in tennis, but also in other sports like ice skating and more. Many people are wearing the wrong shoe size, which leads to an increased risk of athletes getting injured. Even in the average life, almost 64-72% of people are wearing the wrong shoe size.

Our solution to this problem is the ActiStrap. The ActiStrap is a small, inexpensive, portable strap that you can size your foot with. This solution is aimed mostly toward online shoppers, because when you buy your shoes online, you can't really size your feet.
The standard shoe sizer is the Brannock Device. It costs around 70-80 dollars, and takes about 5 minutes to measure your feet. Most people don't just have an expensive foot sizer lying around their house, which is where the ActiStrap plays in.
At just $1.25, the ActiStrap takes about 10 seconds to measure your feet and it has an accuracy rate of about 85%.

Do you want to build your own ActiStrap?

Here's a step-by-step tutorial!

Watch the video on our Youtube channel if needed.

Materials needed:
-Nylon Straps with Velcro
-An Adhesive Ruler
-Glue
-Scissors

1. Cut the adhesive ruler at the 16-inch mark
2. Lay the strap and adhesive ruler flat
3. Dab and spread glue all over the top of the strap; you might need to use fingers
4. Peel away the liner on the back of the ruler
5. Stick the ruler onto the strap
6. Place pressure onto the strap using a heavy object for five minutes
7. After five minutes, take off the heavy items

Experts Visited

We visited multiple places, showing them our prototypes along the way. Near the beginning of the season, we went to Fleet Feet Running Co. We met with two employees who told us about Fleet Feet's shoe sizer, which scans your foot in a matter of seconds, giving you more information than the Brannock device can in 5 minutes.
Closer to the competition, we went to Big River Running Co. We met with a man who told us about how even though it wasn't as important to know your shoe size when you were running(they always offered the size up), it was a crucial detail when it came to tennis(along with sports), since the wrong shoe could cause you to get injured. He also said that tennis was a good way to represent this problem, because a lot of people that play tennis wear the wrong shoe size.
Lastly, we went to another Fleet Feet location and talked to one of the employees. She told us about how so many people come up to the location and leave surprised at their shoe size. This led her to give us the idea of promoting the fact that you may be wearing the wrong shoe size online, and we turned to Youtube.

Including this, we also went to Caleres, also known as the Brown Shoe Company. They were interested in our project because they also had a problem with returns. We talked to the CIO, VP of marketing, Retail Head, and other officials. The were interested in collaborating with us if we improved our Actistrap.

Our Research

64-72% of people are wearing the wrong shoe size

Shoes create many problems and injuries

The US National Tennis Championship said that most injuries happen in the lower extremities

Approximately 20.7 injuries happen per 1000 sets played

Wearing ill-fitted shoes can cause long-term consequences on foot health and could cause developement of musculoskeletal problems and deformities

Wrong sized shoes can cause blister formation, foot discomfort, lack of support, and a risk of tennis injuries which will all negatively affect tennis play in particular

To do a deeper dive into this problem, we conducted a survey of people in our community. We asked three questions.