• litchralee@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    After settling down from the surprise of this headline, assuming that they’re remaining faithful to the idea of walking – where both feet remain in contact with the ground; see running, where they don’t – then perhaps this product is best understood as motorized skates that reuse the same interface as walking.

    As in, the foot’s heel-then-toe contact speed is proportional to forward speed, and sudden flattening of the foot with high toe pressure means an emergency stop.

    It’s clever and I’d like to see how this goes, although it might be ineffective on stairs – few micromobility devices ever are – and might require fairly smooth surfaces due to the small wheels.

    EDIT: oh dear, the actual product implementation seems pretty poor, after watching a YouTube video of them in action. Noise, weight, and an apparent lack of substantial speed increase. Maybe not quite prime time yet.

          • litchralee@sh.itjust.works
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            1 year ago

            I’ve also never used them, but fondly recall the sight of fellow middle school students dashing down a hall. It looks like the Heelys website sells them, but it may be difficult to find the shoes in a brick-and-mortar shoe store, if those stores even exist still.