Estimating human walking pace and direction using vibration signals

In service robots, a number of human movements are analyzed using a variety of sensors. Vibration signals from walking movements of a human provide useful information about the distance and the movement direction of the human. In this paper, we measure the intensity of vibrations and detect both human walking pace and direction. In our experiments, vibration signals detected by microphone sensors provide good estimation of the distance and direction of a human movement. This can be applied to HRI (Human-Robot Interaction) technology.