> This makes it easier for everyday athletes to walk or run more often, for longer amounts of time, while having more fun — adding movement to their lives, extending their walking commute, or helping them to enjoy the run for another mile or two.

The people I know who run all do it for the exercise, not because they like the running. Why would you want to extend it?

A lot of comments are casting doubt on why “athletes” would be interested in this product. In the bike world, electric pedal assist bikes have become very popular. I have some family members who are avid cyclists. They do 100+ miles a week. As they have gotten older (60+) they were losing the ability to engage in social rides with their bike friends, but e-bikes have solved that issue by giving them just a small boost needed to keep up.

I could see this doing the same for older runners if the tech gets good enough.

“Athlete” != “professional athlete” the word encompasses a wide range of people and abilities.

Yeah, but do they still work when us-east-1 goes down?

I'd like such technology very much, as I lack about 80% of my calf muscles due to an auto immune disease. I can't walk without a (non powered) exo skeleton, and perhaps with these I can walk stairs again.

I'm a huge fan of "slightly better walking/running" kind of tech. Unfortunately, current technology lends itself to devices that are slightly too heavy. I have a pair of Shift Moonwalkers[0] that I was hoping would fulfill that role.

A motorcycle accident interrupted my fitness program and it took quite a lot of work to get back to where I am. During that period there were many times when I was (minorly) injured repeatedly since all my muscles were just not strong enough to do things and I wasn't disciplined about them.

I picked up some persistent tendinitis that is just healing with some physiotherapy. Things like this aren't terribly limiting in life but the primary problem is that a lot of the stuff you have to do is rest the appropriate body part! And to rest it, you need to not do things. I don't want to not do things. I want to do things while resting the appropriate part of my body.

And I bet as I get older, all this stuff will catch up. So anything that will extend mobility to my elderly years (still far away) is great. If I do the right things, my body will function well into my 80s and if the tech is there hopefully I'll walk around with my grandkids. All in all, I'm hoping that material science in batteries, motors, and frames and product design all do a big leap in this in the next 40 years. The market is likely there with our aging population.

0: Here's an example of me using them after I got used to them https://www.youtube.com/shorts/qc5PKbJ3tq4

For those of you who don’t “see the point” of a device like this, what you are failing to see is your own personal use case.

The use cases I can see for others are “anyone who might find this useful or fun”. To me, that means

1) people with medically compromised joints who would like to engage in experiences that their bodies don’t currently allow.

2) people who want to challenge themselves by making these joint additions add more resistance.

3) people who want more strength and/or power for any reason. “Fun” is a valid use case.

These joint enhancements exist for hips, knees, and with this, now ankles. The logical end for this is a powered exoskeleton (and, after that, power armor).

Wild! Looks like it pulls your heel up so reduces energy requirement of each up stroke? Seems like it would need to be super light to offset carrying more mass?

I'm sure it's science fiction right now but a pair of shoes that could teach you to do a kick flip would be pretty amazing.

Pair with some power gloves to catch your fall and maybe I can learn to skateboard as my mid life crisis activity down the road.

Are there any actual videos of this, you know, in use? All I see is a bunch of 3d renders of it. There isn't even a picture of a Nike executive holding a prototype.

Has anyone 3d printed something similar? Looks doable - motors and servos are really cheap on AliExpress

I’m going to be ripped once the powered arms do my lifting for me.

It's a start, but we're going to need a powered full exoskeleton, with armor, for fighting Nazis.

Pales in comparison to Soviet science ;-):

> the power comes from pistons that are filled with a fuel-air mixture, and fired by compression when the user puts his or her full body weight down into the boot

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_boots

https://www.cnet.com/tech/tech-industry/these-gas-powered-bo...

"designed to help everyday athletes* go a little bit faster and farther" When is the last time an athlete said I'm looking to go a little faster and farther with the aid of a powered device? Their target market is all wrong. This would be great if aimed towards low mobility users.

Related:

Nike's plans to put the swoosh back into its sales

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/oct/23/just-redo-it-i...

These are already common in China, and Nike will rip you off with the price for "western engineering".

I don’t get the point. Maybe there’s a therapy angle? But otherwise if someone wanted to go faster they could go to a bike, e-bike, or car.