Moonwalkers: Devices To Increase The Speed Of Walking In Any Shoe
On Kickstarter, a shoe called the Moonwalkers was introduced, which promises to significantly increase the speed of walking.
The Moonwalker project was developed by engineers from Shift Robotics, created at Carnegie Mellon University. These skates attach to any type of footwear with adjustable straps and quick-release magnetic fasteners. When walking, the owner of the cars turns on brushless 300-watt electric motors, each of which drives eight polyurethane wheels – it feels like walking on a moving walkway at an airport. Built-in sensors track the wearer’s gait, adapting their work to the speed of his movement using machine learning algorithms: the faster a person walks, the faster the wheels spin.
The maximum speed of the Moonwalker is 11 km/h. When driving on a slope, the system also controls the speed of rotation of the wheels, preventing a person from losing control of them. Each machine weighs 1.9 kg, and the design includes hinges at the base of the toes.
The retail price of Moonwalker will be $1399, but now the authors of the project have launched a campaign on Kickstarter, where you can pre-order for $899.