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The Human Performance Lab is a startup founded in 2021 by Professor Lee Tae-yong of Ewha Womans University in Seoul to overcome this limitation.
Having studied human movement and biomechanics for over 30 years, he has analyzed the movements of national athletes for a long time and quantified sports actions.
"The technology was already in place, but it was important how to connect this to the market. So, I ventured into founding a company directly."
The core product is the 'i-Sole Plus,' a personalized insole based on artificial intelligence (AI). It can analyze a short video of about 1 minute taken with a smartphone camera of the user's posture, gait, and weight transfer. The independently developed video-based alignment analysis AI interprets this data to design insoles optimized for each individual's exercise characteristics, linking to automatic production. It also considers shock absorption, joint alignment, and propulsion efficiency during exercise.
The CEO noted, "Shock to the ankle was reduced by up to 23.6% when wearing the i-Sole, and shock to the hip joint decreased by 19.8%, while knee shock was reduced by 14.3%." He added, "The effects were particularly pronounced in sports with repetitive shocks, such as soccer and running."
Recently, tests were conducted on soldiers from the Special Warfare Command, and pilot projects are also underway with current professional athletes and university teams. The product is currently available for pre-sale to domestic B2C (general consumers), and B2B (sports teams and hospitals) and B2G (military, schools, public offices) solutions targeted at hospitals and physical therapy clinics are also under development.
The Human Performance Lab has signed a contract with a shoe company for diabetes patients in India, supplying locally specialized insoles for those at risk of diabetes complications. At the same time, it is considering entering countries like Vietnam and Thailand in sequence.
The Human Performance Lab has been selected for several technology-based government support programs so far, and is currently in the process of attracting seed investment. Through this, it aims to evolve into a data-driven healthcare solution company applicable in various fields such as real-time posture correction, youth growth management, and fall prevention for the elderly. The company plans to achieve sales of 61.2 billion won by 2029.
The startup process was not easy. As a professor who had focused on research for a long time, the commercialization process was a continuous series of unfamiliarities. However, he says, "If the technology I have is not used in reality, that is indeed a limitation as a researcher."
"At first, I struggled a lot, but as I gradually experienced changing people's lives through technology, I also developed a sense of mission. If someone can exercise and live longer with less pain, I think the technology that makes that possible is sufficiently meaningful."
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