Nike "Amplify": Motorized Running Shoe Aims to Relieve Runners

Sports equipment manufacturer Nike, in collaboration with robotics company Dephy, has developed a running shoe with a dockable motor system to support running movements in the “Amplify” project. Nike announced this on Friday. The system is intended to support the natural movement of the lower leg and ankle. The motorized shoe system is designed for everyday athletes who want to run faster and for longer distances at a time.

The system is still in an “early testing phase,” Nike writes, but it is to be gradually brought to market maturity and made available to a broad audience “in the coming years.”

Mini-Exoskeleton for Everyday Athletes

The Robots for Running Support itself combines a running shoe and a kind of mini-exoskeleton for the foot. The running shoe is equipped with a carbon fiber plate to which the running system is docked at the heel. According to Nike, the running shoe can also be used without the motorization, allowing runners to use the shoe as they wish.

The running system itself is kept quite simple. A cuff containing the drive battery is strapped around the calf. The system is attached to this. It receives additional support by bracing against the shin. A lightweight motor is housed on the side, which moves the running shoe via a belt system and can thus support the running movement.

However, the algorithms that control the running shoe and coordinate the support with natural running movements are likely to be more interesting than the hardware. They were developed in the Nike Sport Research Lab. Nike itself, however, remains silent about details. It is also unclear whether the shoe automatically adapts to the wearer's running movements out-of-the-box or needs to be trained for each wearer. Nike is also silent about the system's operating time and a possible price.

However, the system is intended to function so unobtrusively that its user hardly notices it, and it feels like a part of their body—like additional calf muscles, so to speak.

Tests with runners of various performance levels have shown that the motorized running system facilitates walking or running, both on flat terrain and uphill. For example, runners should be able to shorten their kilometer pace from around seven and a half minutes to six minutes.

It is clear that Nike and Dephy are not targeting professional runners with the running system who could use it for training. This would only make the athletes a few seconds faster, Nike states. Rather, the sports equipment manufacturer is targeting everyday athletes who want to run faster and further with less effort.

(olb)