Moonwalkers are roller pads with electric motors that increase walking speed by 250%

A team of robotics engineers from Carnegie Mellon University working at the company Shift Robotics presented Moonwalkers shoes on Kickstarter. According to them, these roller shoes increase walking speed by 250%.

According to the description, the user attaches a sole with a pair of rows of wheels to his feet and continues to walk, but much faster. These rollers can be used with any shoe, a pair of wheels eliminates the need for balancing, and the flexible sole makes wearing more comfortable.

Each Moonwalkers piece is powered by a 300-watt electric motor that powers a set of eight polyurethane wheels. Sensors track the wearer’s gait while algorithms automatically adjust the power of the motors according to the timing of the legs’ movements, so the added speed increases and decreases as the wearer walks – faster or slower.

Most people walk at a speed of 4 to 6 km/h, and “lunar rovers” increase this figure to 11 km/h. The distance to a complete stop is less than 1 m. There are also batteries inside, which can last approximately 10 km on a single charge.

There is a Lock mode for stairs, which locks all wheels.

Moonwalkers cost $1000, but will later increase to $1400. The developers planned to raise $90,000 through Kickstarter, but have already exceeded this amount: at the time of writing the news, more than $104 thousand had been collected for the “lunar rovers.” There are 27 days left until the end of the collection.