Movement & biomechanics labs
Researchers measuring gait, balance, and load who want data beyond a force plate or a single session.
Prototype stage · 2026
Understanding movement, one step at a time.
Datu Labs is developing sensor insoles and machine-learning software that capture and analyze foot-pressure and walking data. Our pilot program is open to movement researchers, sports scientists, and footwear teams.
The concept
From the ground up: capture, visualize, explore.
An insole that measures how each step lands, and software that helps researchers make sense of it.
01 · Proposed layers
Illustration
Low pressureHigh· Taller columns = higher pressure
Rendered from sample data
Research questions
The questions we're working through.
Alongside the prototype, these are the questions we're working through with researchers: where foot-pressure data is useful, and where it isn't.
- Q1What can the way pressure moves across the foot reveal about how someone moves?
- Q2How much does measuring outside the lab (during training, work, or everyday life) matter?
- Q3How should repeated measurements be compared across steps, sessions, and people?
- Q4Where can machine learning help interpret walking data, and how should its outputs be checked?
- Q5Where do current tools fall short on cost, setup time, comfort, or access to raw data?
Collaborators
Built with the people who study movement.
We'd like to hear from anyone who measures how people move. These are the groups we're starting with.
Sports scientists & performance teams
Teams interested in how athletes load their feet in training and competition, in sports from running and soccer to skiing.
Footwear R&D teams
Designers and engineers studying how people interact with shoes and insoles in real use.
Human-factors & ergonomics researchers
Researchers studying how people stand, walk, and carry load at work and in daily life.
Pilot program
Open to research partners.
We're inviting a small group of labs and teams to try the prototype in their own work and help decide what we build next.
What partners get
- 01Early access to the prototype insole and software
- 02A say in features, data formats, and exports
- 03Direct support from the founder throughout
What we ask
- 01Regular feedback on what works and what doesn't
- 02A short conversation about your research questions
About
Seeing movement beyond the lab.
Most of what we know about how someone moves comes from short sessions in a lab. Datu Labs started from a simple question: what could we learn if we could see movement in everyday life, outside those sessions?
We're starting with the foot, where every step begins, and we're building carefully, with researchers, before making any promises about what the data can do.
Contact
Help shape what we build.
Tell us about your research questions, the tools you use today, and where collecting movement data is hard, or ask to join the pilot program. Every message is read by the founder.
A useful first email might cover
- 01What you study, and with whom
- 02How you measure movement today
- 03What you wish you could measure