A wearable mobility product from Shift Robotics Inc., a Pittsburgh-based startup, is lacing up to offer its users the ability to walk at the speed of a run following a simple installation that's compatible with most shoes.
Shift's Moonwalkers officially launched on Kickstarter on Tuesday, offering backers the option to acquire a pair of the robotics- and AI-powered wearables at a steep discount from their retail offering that's tentatively set to cost $1,399.
The startup, one of Pittsburgh Inno's Startups to Watch in 2022, is hoping to raise $90,000 from the campaign over the next month to meet initial production costs. It's already raised over $24,000 just two hours after launch, selling out of the 10 pairs made available at $799 just minutes after the campaign started.
"We're very excited to introduce the world's fastest shoes to the world, Moonwalkers," Xunjie Zhang, CEO and founder of Shift Robotics, said in an email statement. "With our state-of-the-art hardware and control software, you will be able to walk at the speed of a run, allowing you to navigate busy sidewalks."
Zhang founded the startup in 2018 after working at Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute. Shift Robotics has raised over $1 million since then, mostly from angel investors, and has a staff of 10 workers.
Shift claims the tech built into its wearables is capable of letting people walk a mile in half the time it takes when just using shoes, a feat the company said is possible due to the device’s onboard control system that can detect an individual’s current gait to make real-time adjustments that lead to an increased walking speed.
Using the Moonwalkers is not akin to skating, the startup has stressed.
The wheels on the Moonwalkers will lock in place following a foot-based gesture from the user, which will then allow the individual to safely go up or down a set of stairs or come to a stop. Moonwalkers will automatically regulate speed when a user is going downhill as well.
At the core of the Moonwalkers are a patented electric drivetrain spread across eight polyurethane wheels and powered by an electric battery. The 4.2-pound Moonwalker's top speed clocks out at 7 mph and has an average range of 6.5 miles before needing to be recharged, which can be completed in 90 minutes or less depending on how much energy remains in the rechargeable battery.
"We’re very excited; we’ve been working on this for a while," Zhang said. "We believe this is going to be a transformative experience, a mobility experience, unlike anything else that people have used before."
