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After Hours

Photos: Get your (sneaker’s) motor running

By Bill Detwiler April 14, 2006, 5:41 AM PDT on Twitter billdetwiler

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Adidas_1
Adidas_1
Photos: Get your (sneaker’s) motor running

Adidas-Salomon

The Adidas_1 running shoe, which sells for $250, has a computer chip and a tiny motor built into its sole. rn

rnDesigners believe that the hardware doesn’t make the shoe heavier than a runner would like because it allows them to cut down on the foam used to shape the shoe bottom.

Adidas-Salomon
Photos: Get your (sneaker’s) motor running

The running shoe’s embedded motor is powered by a tiny Sanyo battery about the size of a watch battery. Developers originally plucked motors from Furby children’s toys for their early designs.

Photos: Get your (sneaker’s) motor running

The computer chip inside the running shoe gauges how a runner’s foot is hitting the ground and “tells” the motor if more or less cushioning is needed. The motor attaches with a wire to a plate in the heel. With more tension, the heel becomes more firm. With less tension, the heel becomes softer. A data storage device was attached during testing.

Photos: Get your (sneaker’s) motor running

The Adidas_1 was in development for nearly three years. Eight designers worked on the project in secret, even baking their own circuit boards in a toaster oven so people outside the group wouldn’t know what they were working on.

Photos: Get your (sneaker’s) motor running

Data from hundreds of hours of testing on the shoe was fed into computers so designers could decide how much tension was required on the wire between its motor and heel plate.

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By Bill Detwiler
Bill Detwiler is the Editor for Technical Content and Ecosystem at Celonis. He is the former Editor in Chief of TechRepublic and previous host of TechRepublic's Dynamic Developer podcast and Cracking Open, CNET and TechRepublic's popular online show.
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