Time has included “robotic” shoes among the 200 inventions of 2023 and 570 people have financed them online with 329 thousand dollars (investing at least 799 dollars each), but the doubt remains: are they a new means of micromobility?
Up to 11 km/h. Born from Shift Robotics, the Moonwalkers wink at Michael Jackson’s famous dance step to bring an innovative concept of mobility. Equipped with wheels, they use artificial intelligence to increase walking, allowing us, for example, to run with the same effort as we would during a walk. Once attached to the shoes like skates, they allow you to go up to two and a half times faster, reaching a peak of 11 km/h practically without sweating. Braking, however, requires a maximum of one meter.
The AI ​​does everything. The credit goes to the artificial intelligence that supervises the system. This can understand our walking style to “increase” it in the right way, but also to detect when we are climbing stairs or going down a ramp. In that case, the eight wheels lock themselves, preventing us from falling to the ground. On the contrary, as we set off, the engines activate and accelerate together with us.
The positives. In short, the idea is to have a simple and super-light means of transport (2.5 kilos), which can be placed in a backpack and offer up to 9.5 kilometers of autonomy with a charge lasting an hour and a half (from the socket at home or the power bank, given that they are equipped with the USB-C socket of smartphones). Intelligent skates with regenerative braking from which it seems impossible to fall, easy to ride (“ten steps are enough to learn”, say the creators), and can compete with folding bicycles and scooters in the famous first/last mile. But is it really like that?
The doubts. As we were saying, the crowdfunding campaign wasn’t exactly a success. Three hundred thousand dollars in funding on Kickstarter is nothing (there are board games that have exceeded 12 million), 570 “backers” (or financiers) are a crumb. In short, it seems that the public itself did not believe it. Why? On the one hand, there is certainly the price. As we were saying, they started at $799 for those who purchased (or rather financed) them immediately, in the first days of the campaign, but the creators plan to charge as much as $1,400 in-store. A little too much.
Too far ahead? Then there is aesthetics. Those skates have something alien about them, too different from normal and it’s easy to think that many of us would never wear them to go to the office or a party. Then, as practical as they are, they should still be placed in a bag if not worn (and this is linked to the previous theme). Lastly, they have a childish quality to them, they certainly don’t seem like a device for adults. So some say that perhaps the Moonwalkers are too ahead of their time, that we aren’t ready for them yet. What can I say, it could also be true. Think about what we thought about electric scooters just a few years ago, about the social stigma that accompanied their owners, and look at the widespread diffusion they have had today. As if to say, in short, not today but tomorrow who knows.
