## 1 Introduction  
Energy harvesting aims to capture small amounts of energy from the environment and convert it into electricity for immediate use or storage. This energy can be harvested from different sources, for example, mechanical, thermal, or radiant energies, where vibrations can be used to generate energy by piezoelectric devices [1]. Energy harvesting can be used in every application that applies forces onto a material. However, the most significant drawback of piezoelectric devices is the low energy that they generate. This paper is not intended to justify the economic profitability of the devices employed in this paper but it considers the analysis of different piezoelectric devices for energy harvesting as a paradigm to be covered in the development of this type of technology. Nowadays, there is scientific interest to generate energy from microelectromechanical systems [2; 3; 4], considering the amplitude of a seismic mass, the magnitude and the frequency of excitation, and the mechanical damping coefficient to find the conditions for maximum power transfer to a load. Other research works, for example, [PERSON] et al. [5], have studied an energy harvesting system inside a shoe to convert the pressure of a footprint into energy, and [PERSON] et al. [6] have employed an electromagnetic transducer to convert vibrations into electrical energy.  
[PERSON] [7] demonstrated the essential guidelines for successful construction of an energy harvesting system, and there have been many commercial piezoelectric platforms that have employed this technology. [PERSON] et al. [8] presented a study and comparison of different commercial energy harvesting floors for interior spaces in buildings. Studies by [9; 10] were based on finite elementsanalysis and modeling on piezoelectric platforms for energy harvesting. The research works by [11; 12; 13] considered an analysis of energy extracted using a piezoelectric floor. [PERSON] et al. [14] analyzed the fabrication and evaluation of an energy harvesting floor using unimorph lead zirconate titanate (PZT) piezoelectric cantilevers to convert kinetic energy from footsteps.  
This work studies the performances of different transducers on a prototype piezoelectric platform, and their possible applications for energy harvesting. A prototype is proposed for the generation of energy from the footsteps of people on a platform. The novelty of this work is the analysis and comparison of different piezoelectric platforms based on macro fiber composites and PZT transducers. Furthermore, the distribution of tread forces on the platform are studied by measuring the output of each of the piezoelectric transducers. Finally, a comparison considering commercial energy harvesting floors and this prototype is performed.  
The manuscript is organized as follows: Section 2 describes a case study where the energy harvesting floor is detailed from theoretical and practical points of view; in Section 3, the results are analyzed and presented; in Section 4, a comparative analysis with some of the commercial piezoelectric platforms on the market is presented; and finally, in Section 5, we present the main findings of the research work.