I hate running. While I’m happy to throw the odd weight around in an effort to slow my descent into decrepitude, I refuse to subject my legs to such a cumbersome form of exercise.
It looks like Nike might be about to change all that, however, with its Project Amplify footwear system. Designed to give wearers “a second set of calf muscles”—which, in my case, would translate to “a single, decent set of calf muscles”—this innovation promises to usher in “a new future for running, jogging, and walking,” according to the sportswear giant.
So, it sounds like your next trip to the shops could be enhanced by this augmented calf system, not just your next run. Get out of the way, grandma. I need milk, and I need it now.
According to Michael Donaghu, vice president of Create The Future, Emerging Sport and Innovation at Nike (who knew such a thing existed?), Project Amplify is about “seamlessly adding a little more power to your stride” thanks to the capabilities of its powerful motorized calf-boosting system.
“The fun comes from realizing you can do more than you thought you could—whatever ‘more’ means to you,” Donaghu continues.
Hmm. More to me, in this case, would be the ability to leap from rooftop to rooftop like Spider-Man—a functionality these prototype shoes seem unable to provide. Yet, of course. Get to work, Nike. I have dreams to fulfill.
Still, I’ll take faster and easier walking and running as a starter step, for sure. And a starter step it appears to be, as this is described as a first-generation product (a prototype, then, surely) of what will eventually become a pair of robot shoes for the masses. Nike plans to bring the system to a broad consumer launch in the coming years.
I doubt it’ll look much like the product shown now, nor give you superhuman abilities—but you never know, do you?
In the meantime, the technology has already undergone extensive testing. Apparently, more than 400 athletes have covered over 2.4 million steps over the past few years in more than nine different versions of the hardware. That’s a whole lot of augmented steps—working out to roughly 12,000 laps around the Nike Sport Research Lab’s 200-meter test track.
The tech has shown some promising results, according to Nike. Test athletes have described the system as feeling like part of their body, making walking or running uphill feel like moving on flat ground. Some have also reported lap times up to two minutes faster, so it certainly seems to add a real-life sprint mode to the capabilities of your everyday runner.
Which, again, isn’t me. But hey, I’d still be curious to give them a try.
It takes me exactly 20 minutes to walk to the train station from my house, and if I could get that down to 18 minutes, it would mean slightly more time spent in bed. I told you I was lazy, didn’t I?
Bring on the augmented shoe future—that’s what I say. My calves are ready.
https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/pumped-up-kicks-nikes-prototype-powered-footwear-system-aims-to-be-a-second-set-of-calf-muscles-to-give-everyday-athletes-a-real-life-sprint-mode/