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Gas-Powered Shoes?
Glen Davis writes: "A Russian inventor has created motorized shoes! The shoes weigh 2 pounds apiece, and work by means of foot-long pistons which trigger a plate attached to the shoe's sole. Single strides are up to 13 feet long, and wearers can attain speeds of up to 25 mph! The shoes are gas-powered." (BBC article with pictures here, submitted by Ave.)
I don't drive. Driving sucks. Traffic in the Bay area sucks. I live almost nine miles away from my company's campus and I would love a pair of these to trot along at a nice 25mph along the side of the San Tomas expressway.
These would also come in handy when your boss is chasing you down the hall to hand you some extra work. With these suckers, it's just one big leap and you're half way across the building, out of his path!
I wish there were photos of the shoes. God, I want a pair so bad!
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seumas.com
If these guys have done their homework, the two boots are interlocked so that if one quits, the other shuts down too. I suppose it would be a shock to have a 12-foot stride suddenly followed by a 3-foot stride because of a fouled sparkplug.
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Ancient Goth: Someone who overthrew the Roman Empire.
Time is Nature's way of keeping everything from happening at once... the bitch.
-- Give him Head? Be a Beacon?
-- Give him Head? Be a Beacon? :P)
(If you can't figure out how to E-Mail me, Don't.
Amazingly, when I was 10, I saw a description of exactly this thing in a popular technical magazine (aimed at 10-year-olds, appropriately). The thing was invented by yet another 10-year-old. This was, like, 25 years ago...
--
Industrial space for lease in Flatlandia.
What happens when someone runs into a wall or lamp post at 25MPH? Or worse, hits another pedestrian?
Nothing good, but then bicyclists can go 25MPH too, and can also crash into walls and pedestrians.
The bbc page claims that:
It's going to be a boring 100m competition then. Even if the runners could achieve their maximum velocity (37km/h, or 10.28 m/s) in just two seconds (the first 10 meters) of acceleration, then the winning time would be somewhere close to 11 seconds.
A more realistic estimate for the maximum speed [calculations]....
This tells us the maximum speed will be somewhere around
You are correct in pointing out, AC, that 23 MPH is not the typical top speed of 100m sprints. 23 MPH is actually the average velocity of 100m sprints. But top speeds aren't 34 MPH as you calculate. Top speeds are actually about 27 MPH.
Here's a little tidbit on the subject from the Mathematical Accociation of America.
In other news, the JCB GT, the 110mph turbocharged mechanical digger has won an award as the craziest invention not yet bought by Microsoft.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
This is another example of what happens when you get a bunch of bored engineers in a room.
Have you ever seen a collision where a car hit something head on? Each and every one has a bright red splat where the driver's head hit the windshield. Why don't we mandate helmets for drivers? Helmets would surely save lives in these types of collisions.
Since cars are more dangerous (greater speed) and more deadly (greater number of deaths) they seem to be a natural target for helmet advocates. Yet these people go after bikes. Why? Surely they aren't concerned with safety or they would attack cars too. Hmmmm...
Ryan
Now all I need is some gloves of power and I'll rule the world!
HAHAHAHAHA
Strong data typing is for those with weak minds.
Strong data typing is for those with weak minds.
So I was thinking, now that I have this alternator, how about I add a couple shoelights to them so people can see me at night? Not being one to be outdone, I used flourescent lights.. I'm environmentally friendly, afterall. Gotta add a ballast for that though. We could save on weight by running the wire up the side of the pants leg and back down the other, though I can't say I like the idea of 450v going by my precious jewels. But, in the name of science, I did it anyway. They work great too.
So I have these peltier-cooled flourescent gas-powered walking boots. Doing all this required that I supercharge it to about 10psi and use a higher octane fuel. I got a great deal on peltiers though from Melcor, they're offering me volume discounts now. I painted them black 'cuz black looks cool. There's wires all around it, but that's the "in" thing now, so I'm not too worried. I added some fuses to the outside for easy replacement, as I've found the flourescent lights can overload the alternator and short when they first turn on. Should add a capacitor and a power inverter.
You know, since I've got this nifty power source, I decided to make it wireless. Why not power up the shoes and make them walk to me in the morning? Forget the stupid dog! That'll require a bigger starter engine though 'cuz of all the electronics... Done.
I also decided to add a computer heads-up display. We're using over 3000w of power right now, so I decided to go with a transmeta. Besides, heat production being what it is, a pentium would be too much. And I have to mount it on my chest now. I also added a belt-keyboard and mouse .. plus USB ports.
Infrared would be good for tracking down lusers, so I've also integrated that into the HUD display. I don't know why people keep running away from me when I'm wearing my shoes (what's so bad about them?!) but now I can track them down. Hey, I'm getting a transmission on my wireless downlink....
*cackle* We are the borg...
I don't care much about the actual topic you're mumbling about, but horrible arguments irritate me.
Yes, car crashes result in a greater number of deaths, but that says nothing about the relative morality rates. Until you know how many deaths there are per car crash, taking into account the possibility for multiple passengers in cars, you cannot even begin to make an accurate statement about which is deadlier.
Also, head-on collisions do not always result in the drivers head leaving a "bright red splat" on the windshield. If the driver is wearing a seatbelt and driving a car with airbags, they'll usually be bruised but intact. Motorcycles and bicycles lack the stability, mass, and enclosure of a car, and so head-on collisions usually result in the driver being flung over the handlebars, hence the need for a helmet.
We don't mandate helmet laws for cars because cars already have mandated safety equipment: seat belts, airbags, impact tests, safety glass, et al. Motorcycles, bicycles, skateboards, and rollerblades don't have these safety measures, and so helments are necessary.
Helmet advocates are obviously concerned with safety. Your fallacious logic can be equated with the statement "People fighting hunger aren't giving me food, and I'm hungry, so therefore they're not really interested in feeding people." I'm sure there's a fancy Latin name for this type of logical error, but the best English phrase for it is "bullshit." If you suspect alterior motives for their apparently altrustic desire to save lives, name them.
If you don't want to wear a helment for aesthetic, political, or spiritual reasons, fine. Just don't attempt to justify it because something else people do is dangerous as well.
-- I can't think of anything witty to put here. Sorry.
Nintendo made the Power Glove years ago.
...are you *sure* you want one?
this is a sig.
Have you seen Exerlopers?
The original design of these things allowed for 30 foot strides(once you got going), and speeds that were considered too much of a liability for the company to sell. No gasoline, pistons, or even moving parts, just good old fasioned efficient engineering.
Mythological Beast
Wake up - the future is arriving faster than you think.
On the other hand, it says quite clearly that they're only supposed to be used for short periods of time (25 minutes was the gas limit) which hopfully will mean that people won't replace their bicycle with these shoes.
"War is God's way of teaching Americans geography." - Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914)
AFAICT you're supposed to run, not walk, with these things...
--
Industrial space for lease in Flatlandia.
The first thought that went through my mind when I saw this picture was "what a great way to have the lower part of your legs completely torn off from the rest of your body".
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seumas.com
Funny thing is, most of these guys can't ride - check out the rear tire, usually about 2" of unscrubbed rubber on either side.
Might as well be riding a Harley (fate worse then death)
Nick
-- "It's a sad day for American capitalism when a man can't fly a midget on a kite over Central Park" - Jim Moran
I'm sure this is going to sound stupid until you think about it. Remember playing playform scroller games? Like Super Mario Bros. The play control in the 'Mario' games was decent -- you could do things like adjust your trajectory in the middle of a jump or fall, but remember all those other games where it was impossible to move while not on the ground? Where if you jump forward, the direction buttons do nothing until you're back on the ground?
Without a way to adjust your destination, mid-flight, wouldn't these things be incredibly dangerous? This would be somewhat like running on ice, or losing the brakes on your car while driving.
Sure it's a cool idea, but is it practical?
Hasn't he ever heard of the Pongo stick!!
Just don't go after any roadrunners with them.
[1]ACME= A Company that Makes Everything
Christopher A. Bohn
cb
Oooh! What does this button do!?
I think you're confusing several concepts. Every step is a "short sudden burst" of energy, as you come down on a foot (arresting the downward velocity) and then spring off again on it (leaving with upward velocity). If the boots can make each step smoother, you can have less stress than walking normally. A burst of speed as in a sprint involves several steps; unless you have greater stress in one or more of them individually, you won't have greater stress overall.
There don't seem to be any unusual postures or motions involved with using these boots, so I don't think the squatting analogy is relevant. When you push off with your shoe, the ground "pushes back". With the boots, there's an extensible mechanism that extends the push for a greater distance. Doesn't seem like a biggie.
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Ancient Goth: Someone who overthrew the Roman Empire.
Time is Nature's way of keeping everything from happening at once... the bitch.
Now try to follow me here. If you accelerate upwards during a normal step (and you pretty much have to), you are pushing with a force greater than gravity. If you sustain this greater-than-gravity acceleration over a longer distance, you'll accelerate to a higher speed and achieve a greater altitude during the step. Double the distance, you'll go about double the height and 1.4 times the speed. Quadruple the distance, you get 4x the height and 2x the speed. This is all without increasing the forces involved (F=ma, E=Fd, v=sqrt(2E/m)).
This is all first-semester physics. Haven't you studied it yet, or didn't you understand it well enough to apply it to problems that weren't on the tests?
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Ancient Goth: Someone who overthrew the Roman Empire.
Time is Nature's way of keeping everything from happening at once... the bitch.
What I'm wondering about is that if the pistons fire every time you land, how are you supposed to stop?!?
I doubt, therefore I may be.
>I already have a chuckle at the 'execs' on the commuter trains in the morning who wear rollerblades, and use those motor scooter things.
Wow, I wish we had that sort of thing here. I'd applaud them. A few months ago I actually saw two consecutive cars carrying more than one lone occupant (admittedly it was the weekend rather than a weekday, so family trips were more comman and commuting to work less so, but anyway, it's not something you see everyday here...)
Where was I - yeah, living here, every moron and his dog takes a car to get to work and back each day (one moron per car), and each day we choke on the smog. Then those same morons (successfully) petition the council to ban skating in parts of the city, and sneer at and stigmitise public transport as the "looser cruiser" that only people too poor to own a car would use.
Salute those guys on their blades. The execs here are a far lesser breed.
Some things may be "common sense", but common sense is only valid for the areas where we have enough experience to have it trained to be correct. Outside those areas there's no substitute for checking the facts and doing the numbers. The other thing is, "Common sense ain't so common." -- Roy Rogers.
Not bad for fourteen. Take physics and calculus and chemistry when you get the chance, you'll find that a whole lot of things that used to be mysteries suddenly go together like pieces of a puzzle. There's a lot of stuff out there that needs to be looked at by people in a position of knowledge and with fresh viewpoints, and you may very well be someone to find an important insight that everyone else has missed. "If I have achieved so much, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants." Go climb up onto the shoulders of Newton and Laplace and Leibniz and Kelvin and Avogadro, and tell the world what you see.One more little thing while I'm pontificating. There are a lot of people out there who are pushing agendas, and they depend on the ignorance of the public (especially in science) to get people to believe them. Watch out for these people. The truth is their worst enemy.
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Ancient Goth: Someone who overthrew the Roman Empire.
Time is Nature's way of keeping everything from happening at once... the bitch.
We aren't standing still. We're improving the product
A rather thick pun if I do say so myself...
Eh...
Still think you're right? I might agree, once you are finished writing down all your assumptions. For instance, I agree that your gas-piston example would probably be too stressful for people to endure. I do not agree that the assumptions in your example were necessary for such a device, so the conclusion you drew was not valid.
It's nice of you to do that after I offered a method (a separate combustion chamber and regulating valves) that could eliminate the concussion entirely. I agree that neither of us knows the details of what the inventor is actually doing, but you should have sufficient knowledge and imagination to see what is within the realm of physical possibility. Your assumptions are too narrow to yield valid conclusions, and that's what I'm trying to hammer you into admitting (the hammer being a useful device for applying brief, large forces to objects which cannot be moved with the static force of one's muscles alone--
Ancient Goth: Someone who overthrew the Roman Empire.
Time is Nature's way of keeping everything from happening at once... the bitch.
This is great! I already have a chuckle at the 'execs' on the commuter trains in the morning who wear rollerblades, and use those motor scooter things. Now I get to watch them bounding down the platform too! Yay!
I'm thinking tripwire here...
henry [ w i r e t r a p . n e t ]
Let's try an example of the possible here. I can leap a set of 4 stairs in a single step, unaided. This is a height of roughly 70 cm. If my leg bends to give 7.5 cm and my toes flex another 7.5 cm, that is a total stroke of 15 cm for the launch. That's an acceleration of nearly 5 G's. If I was using boots which were set to an acceleration of 4 G's (constant over the stroke), a 30 cm stroke would launch me upwards by an additional 1.2 meters. More to the point, the stresses imposed by the boots would be 20% less than the stresses from the single step I can already make.
The combined height is 1.9 meters. That's a bit higher than my own height. Being able to take one step and leap onto something at the height of my own head... that sounds fun.
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Ancient Goth: Someone who overthrew the Roman Empire.
Time is Nature's way of keeping everything from happening at once... the bitch.
It seems to me that this is a great idea, but what if there is a mis-fire? I don't think I want to have something capable of lifting my weight go off at the wrong time, or with excessive force.
It would be very nice to see a photo or diagram.
--Mike--
If it's Win98 you could just put the Ctrl, Alt and Delete keys on the sole of one shoe and re-"boot" every 26 feet.
carlos
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As a matter of fact, I am a lawyer. But I play an actor on TV.
And the fact that this is foodwear would only be one of the reasons...
Say no to software patents.
What happens when someone runs into a wall or lamp post at 25MPH? Or worse, hits another pedestrian?
"More beans, Mr. Taggart??"
It sounds like something I'd like to try (but probably only the once :)
One question though - how do you stop? The BBC article says the pistons are triggered by the foot hitting the ground, so presumably once you have started you have to wait until the things run out of fuel.
(This brings up another interesting question: What happens if your left foot runs out of fuel before your right foot? This would probably make for some painful accidents).
Combine these shoes with the Ursus Mark VI armoured suit, arrive in your personal helicopter... from Slashdot, I can get the tech I need to become a superhero! Now all I need are some nifty superhero-style weapons!
--
Xenu loves you!
I'd love to see that some sport competition! How about, say, motorized soccer?
I'm wondering how long it will take for this idea to be incorporated into that DARPA powered armor project. These are definitely better than the kangaroo suit for increasing infantry movement.
So far I've gotten all my Karma from telling people they are wrong... :)
The world record time for the 100m is about 10sec, which works out to 36km/h, but this is an average speed from a standing start. I don't know how long it takes to reach maximum speed, but when the runner crosses the finish line, he's moving a helluva lot faster than 37km/h. ISTR the fastest human land speed being >=64km/h.
Why use petrol powered shoes? Take a look at this page to see something that probably won't get you to 25mph, but will certainly let you jump a fair bit. You won't run out of petrol either ;)
;)
http://www.kangoo-worldsite.com/home.htm
On TV once, I saw some *immense* boots somebody made - they were based on a "dead big achilles tendon" princple. Lots of springs, lots and lots of jumping. I can't find any links about that mind.
Pterol might be cool, but I reckon the Kangaroo boots are better
Do you have any better hostages?
>people who can LEAST afford to replace their
>cars to be "gross polluters"
So it's the *POOR* people who own those 12mpg Excursions and Surburbans and Land Rovers that out weigh/size my own car by a factor of at least three!!! Silly me; I thought it was rich yuppies buying those monsterocities.
Funny thing... I happen to *LIKE* having clean, breathable air...
I wouldn't mind at all having <20mpg vehicles off the road. Or at least get rid of the "gas guzzler" tax exemption for them, and make them submit to all the safety and efficency requirements of normal cars. And bump the threshold for a *car* to be considered a "gas guzzler" up to 20mpg as well.
Come on people... we all knew beforehand that California has some of the toughest emissions laws around. Yet we choose to live here anyway. If you want to drive a beat up old junker that spews tons of smog every time you start it up, well, you knew beforehand that that's frowned upon in this state. (seems like there's a cultural exemption for old Volkswagons tho)
john
Resistance is NOT futile!!!
Haiku:
I am not a drone.
Remove the collective if
Imagine all the people...
- What if he wants to climb stairs down ?
- Won't he just be thrown in the air ?
- How is precision stepping handled ?
(a typical French expression in this case is "Adorable mais si on danse?" - "Lovely, but what about dancing?")Especially if you happen to be out of gas in a country that is known for its penuries...
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Trolling using another account since 2005.
Professor Kunikov believes that,as well as being fun, the shoes could be used by rescue services to reach quickly areas inaccessible to vehicles with wheels.
Yep. Same strategy as army ants use to cross rivers.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
:)Fudboy
I guess I'm just a Fudboy, looking for that real Transmeta...
:)Fudboy
I guess I'm only a Fudboy, looking for that real Transmeta