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Student Creates World's Fastest Shoe With a Printer

Posted by samzenpus on from the if-you-print-it-they-will-run dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Engineer and designer Luc Fusaro from the Royal College of Art in London has developed a prototype running shoe that can be uniquely sculpted to any athlete's foot. It's as light as a feather too, weighing in at 96 grams. The prototype is aptly named, Designed to Win, and is 3D printed out of nylon polyamide powder, which is a very strong and lightweight material. The manufacturing process uses selective laser sintering (SLS), which fuses powdered materials with a CO2 laser to create an object. This process means 3D scans can be taken of the runner's foot so as to ensure the shoe matches the shape perfectly. Fusaro can also change the stiffness of the soles according to the athlete's physical abilities. The shoe can improve performance by 3.5%, meaning a 10 second 100-meter sprinter could see his time drop by 0.35 seconds, which is a huge time saving relatively speaking. Imagine if Usain Bolt put a pair of these running shoes on."

11 of 144 comments (clear)

  1. I'd say... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Usain Bolt could put on quite a shoe with those running shows.

  2. A shoe with a printer? by Baloroth · · Score: 5, Funny

    Why would I want a shoe with a printer?

    --
    "None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license." --John Milton
    1. Re:A shoe with a printer? by oneiros27 · · Score: 4, Funny

      So if his other shoe had a printer ... then he could receive faxes! brilliant!

      --
      Build it, and they will come^Hplain.
    2. Re:A shoe with a printer? by ackthpt · · Score: 1, Funny

      So if his other shoe had a printer ... then he could receive faxes! brilliant!

      Alas, the Samsung Intergalactic 10.1 shoe isn't allowed to be sold in the United States because Apple is pretty sure it would infringe upon supposed intellectual rights, should it decide to sell a similar shoe.

      --

      A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
  3. Phew! by Lucas123 · · Score: 3, Funny

    From the headline, I thought he'd invented a shoe that actually printed. My dream remains alive!

  4. Re:nylon fumes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...which is why you print the fume hood out first, then start printing nylon shoes.

  5. Is this "World's Fastest Shoe" labeled: "Acme"? by Jeremiah+Cornelius · · Score: 3, Funny

    MEEPT!

    --
    "Flyin' in just a sweet place,
    Never been known to fail..."
  6. Are these 5 finger shoes? by JRHelgeson · · Score: 3, Funny

    http://xkcd.com/1065/

    Guaranteed Gold Medal at the Olympics?
    But it has those creepy 5 finger toes...
    Yeah, I'll have to think about that.

    --
    Good security is based upon reality and common sense. Common sense is a function of having common knowledge.
  7. Re:ponderous by xaxa · · Score: 3, Funny

    > ...the Olympic motto of "faster, higher, stronger"...

    I thought the Olympic motto was "Winning is everything".

    I think it's been changed to "i'm lovin' it".

  8. Re:Citation needed by gmhowell · · Score: 5, Funny

    Are you kidding? a 3.5% improvement would cut hours off of my 100 yard dash times.

    --
    Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
  9. Re:Just think! by gmhowell · · Score: 2, Funny

    "scientific investigations" have shown that tuning a shoe can improve performance as much as 3.5% and that he (luc fusaro) is still tuning his shoe...

    Hmmm.... So tuning both shoes would result in a 7% increase in performance, right?

    --
    Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon