Shoes That Generate Energy

Here is something ineresting I bumped into this morning.

A team of undergrads at MIT -- led by Shakeel Avadhany and Zack Anderson -- has produced a prototype of a shock absorber for vehicles which can harness and generate electricity back into the vehicle. The team claims that their prototype increases a vehicle's fuel-efficiency by up to 10 percent by using a "hydraulic system that forces fluid through a turbine attached to a generator." http://www.yotify.com/a/v2.aspx?r=17874558&k=ri8NgjpEPiUlxR1bsP6HQ&s=digest


That got me thinking about a shoe that would give back energy to the "system".

Modern running shoes are designed to be shock absorbers. Running shoe companies like Nike have spent millions on studying the damaging effects of heel shock and how to mitigate it. But this has been a passive system meant to buffer and not add energy to the system.

What if you designed a shoe that would generate a small current as it shock absorbed. that energy could be used to stimulate the feet with light vibration. It could be used to feed more information from under foot into the nervous system therby giving us a more exact picture of our body position like the iShoe

Or it could contribute to less foot fatigue by a light massage to break up the harmful stress patterns that form over a day. How do you see this generated energy being put to use?

Of course there are those who would say why not just use a battery. What fun are they?

Kevin Kunz

http://www.reflexology-research.com
http://www.dk.com/reflexology

Balance problems? Step into the iShoe

Balance problems? Step into the iShoe - MIT News Office

"Your grandmother might have little in common with an astronaut, but both could benefit from a new device an MIT graduate student is designing to test balancing ability.'

"The iShoe insole could help doctors detect balance problems before a catastrophic fall occurs, says Erez Lieberman, a graduate student in the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology who developed the technology as an intern at NASA.

CNN Balance problems? Step into the iShoe
MIT grad student's invention could one day prevent fall.'
Anne Trafton, News Office
July 16, 2008

The smart shoe may be on it's way. The idea behind this shoe is to prevent catastrophic falls. But the inventor seems to have plans beyond that.

"Lieberman is now testing the iShoe technology in a small group of patients. The current model is equipped to diagnose balance problems, but future versions could help correct such problems, by providing sensory stimulation to the feet when the wearer is off-kilter."

I predicted the smart shoe years ago. I was disappointed when the first shoe was simply a running shoe that tracked your activity. The IShoe shows real promise as a revolution in footwear for seniors.

Kevin Kunz

http://www.reflexology-research.com