SmartSocks®DISCOVERY
Real-time physiological data capture for researchers

SmartSocks®DISCOVERY is a physical and physiological data collection platform for researchers studying aspects of human and brain health. Developed with support from Alzheimer’s Society, the UK’s leading dementia charity, DISCOVERY simplifies the collection of objective physiological, activity, and gait data from research participants with a neurological or neurodevelopmental disorder, including dementia, severe autism, learning disability, or acquired brain injury.

The socks are designed to overcome barriers these populations sometimes face when using conventional wrist-worn wearable devices, including:

  • Usability issues, stemming from small, fiddly touchscreens and complicated user interfaces.
  • Tolerability issues, where wrist-worn devices cause irritation leading to fidgeting and frequent removal.
  • Acceptability issues, where individuals may feel stigmatised by the device.

SmartSocks®DISCOVERY gathers real-time data on pulse rate and pulse rate variability, electrodermal activity, skin temperature, and movement/gait. The socks are comfortable and machine washable at 30°C.

SmartSocks®DISCOVERY is relevant for other areas of research, including movement science, stress research, and sleep physiology.

Why socks?

SmartSocks® is designed to be more usable and better tolerated by people with a neurological disorder than a conventional wrist-worn device. It adopts a sock form factor which is comfortable, familiar, and unintrusive for the wearer. The medial arch is also a superior location for measuring electrodermal activity than the wrist, meaning SmartSocks® can ascertain physiological arousal more accurately than a wrist-worn device.

Photo of a man sitting on the edge of a bed wearing a pair of SmartSocks

How they work

SmartSocks®DISCOVERY gathers real-time physiological data on electrodermal activity (EDA), pulse rate (PR) and pulse rate variability (PRV), skin temperature, and movement/gait.

The active sock in each pair incorporates a sensor unit with a photoplethysmography (PPG) sensor, an infrared (IR) thermopile, an electrodermal activity (EDA) sensor, and a 6-axis inertial measurement unit (IMU).

The data are transmitted over Wi-Fi and displayed on the SmartSocks®DISCOVERY dashboard. They can be downloaded to a CSV file for offline analysis

Diagram showing how SmartSocks DISCOVERY connects to the SmartSocks DISCOVERY Dashboard

Research Applications

SmartSocks®DISCOVERY supports research across a wide range of domains:

Neurocognitive & neurodegenerative disease
Psychology
Movement, sports & rehabilitation science
Mental health
Sleep physiology
Gerontology
Occupational health research
View the list of SmartSocks® Sensors associated with the research team.
Sensor data are visualised in real-time and can be exported to a CSV file.
Click on a Sensor to view live status information and recall historic data sessions.

Case Study: Dr Luigi Moretti, PhD Researcher, University of the West of England

Dr Luigi Moretti is a medical doctor and PhD researcher at UWE Bristol, and founder of MEMoPAD — a tool combining a mobile app, smartwatch app, and clinician web app to help people manage anxiety in the moments they’re most vulnerable. His research explores wearable-based emotion recognition, codesigned with patients, carers, and mental health clinicians.

Luigi’s lab study compared data from SmartSocks®DISCOVERY against a commercial smartwatch across 16 participants, using stress-inducing tasks (watching video clips, playing Mario Kart) and structured conversation to capture physiological responses in both controlled and more naturalistic settings.

A key focus was continuous electrodermal activity (EDA) — a sensor still uncommon in consumer wearables. Early results suggest that EDA signals may differ meaningfully depending on where on the body they’re captured, and the medial arch placement in SmartSocks performed well throughout the study.

Stigma is a significant barrier in mental health research, and the sock form factor proved a genuine advantage: several participants forgot they were wearing the device entirely — something Luigi notes is far harder to achieve with a wrist-worn sensor.

“The advantage of Milbotix is that it’s invisible — participants can wear it without being worried about stigma.”
— Dr Luigi Moretti, PhD Researcher, UWE Bristol

Key features

SmartSocks®DISCOVERY includes the following key features:

  • Sock & Sensor
    • Over 16 hour battery life, rechargeable via USB-C charger (full charge in approximately 8 hours).
    • Wi-Fi connectivity (802.11 b/g/n, 2.4GHz).
    • 16GB of persistent storage for buffering data during roaming and in case of Wi-Fi connection loss.
    • Padded sole, flat toe seams, and gentle “honeycomb” cuffs provide comfort and safety for people with fragile skin and swollen ankles.
    • Breathable moisture-wicking yarns.
    • Machine washable at 30°C (sensor unit in active sock is water-resistant but should be removed for washing).
    • Each pair includes one active and one inactive sock. Both socks are colour and size matched
  • SmartSocks® Cloud Services
    • Collection and storage of sensor data
    • Web dashboard for sock status, data visualisation and CSV download.
    • API access for programmatic integration with other software systems.
  • Support & Warranty
    • 9-5 (UK) technical support and access to online support site.
    • 12-month warranty on sensor unit.

Benefits for researchers

SmartSocks®DISCOVERY has significant advantages over alternative data collection methodologies:

  • Familiarity and comfort for research participants resulting in minimal distress and higher levels of compliance.
  • Wireless data collection enables freedom of movement and scope in experimental design.
  • Broad spectrum of data-points, accurately captured in real-time.
  • Easy to use with minimal training.
  • Easy to use dashboard enabling easy downloading of data for analysis.
  • API integration enables custom workflows and data pipelines to be built.
  • All elements are reusable including socks with no single-use disposable items.
  • Data quality equal to or exceeding wrist-worn devices — validated against gold-standard ECG, thermocouple probe, GSR sensor, and gait pressure mat, with pulse rate accurate to within 5 bpm.
A researcher's desk with a screen

Benefits for research participants

SmartSocks® have been demonstrated to have significant advantages over alternative devices and methodologies:

  • Comfortable and lightweight.
  • Easy to use and well-tolerated.
  • Offline data capture allows for trips away from base station.
Research participant wearing SmartSocks, and slippers

Ordering

SmartSocks®DISCOVERY is sold as a kit comprising machine-washable pairs of SmartSocks®, removable sensors for continuous data collection, a USB-C charger, and a laundry bag.

Available as a Starter kit (2 sock pairs, 1 sensor) or Full kit (5 sock pairs, 2 sensors).

SmartSocks®DISCOVERY is available in two sizes — XS (UK3-5) and MM (UK9-11) — in white and grey.

SmartSocks®DISCOVERY is not a medical device. The Sensor, Charger, Socks and Dashboard are not intended for use as medical devices or to replace medical devices. They do not and are not intended to diagnose, treat, prevent, alleviate or monitor disease, injury or disability or investigate, replace or modify the anatomy or any physiological process.

SmartSocks Discovery Boxes

Documentation

Our research partners

Cranfield University, Imperial College London, Brunel University, University of Exeter, University of the West of England, UK Dementia Research Institute