Earlier today, I saw a video for a new product called Moonwalkers.
Created by a company called Shift Robotics, Moonwalkers are shoe attachments that help you walk faster. Essentially, you clip these attachments over your shoes, walk the same way you normally would, and glide along (up to 7 mph) on the little wheels. You’ll immediately get a sense of what it’s like by visiting their website at shiftrobotics.io.
I walk around the city A LOT. It would be amazing to be able to get where I want to go faster while still being active. Sometimes I want the exercise of walking somewhere, but because I am in a rush, I just take the bus or an UBER instead. These shoe attachments would effectively solve that issue. All in, it seems like a great purchase.
Until you see the price tag…
They’re $1,399. Yes, that’s right—$1,399.
It’s a bit disappointing. At that rate, I could just buy an electric bike or scooter.
Simultaneously, I’ve been seeing a lot of chatter on Twitter recently about how our cities and towns in America need to be more walkable. People complain that cars and roads dominate the surface area of our environments.
So even if you spend $1,399 on your shoe attachments (or your bike or scooter), it doesn’t really matter because you can’t walk most places anyway.
I’ve had the fortune of living in two very walkable cities (Philadelphia and Boston). So I understand why people want more walkable cities. There is a certain element of convenience that comes with being able to walk five minutes to the closest market as opposed to beating traffic on your drive home from work so that you can stop at the supermarket.
Ultimately, it makes me think about the future of transportation. I visited the Philly Auto Show yesterday, and the central focal point was that the future is electric. Every major car manufacturer featured at least one or two electric vehicles. The entire center of the auto show was turned into a track where people could test drive electric vehicles. I have no doubt in my mind that 5 years from now (barring some crazy event), the majority of Americans will be driving electric vehicles.
So whether you walk, bike, scooter, or drive, the point is that times are changing. The way we get around over the next 5-10 years is going to change a lot. We may get to a point where UBER is servicing drone taxi rides, as opposed to driving on the ground. And the very infrastructure of our major cities may change drastically to accommodate shifts in behavior (i.e., if most people have shoe attachments that make them walk faster, will we need a “passing lane” on the sidewalk?).
It’s fun to think about what will come in the future. But for now, I guess I’ll just stick to walking.
.png)
Earlier today, I saw a video for a new product called Moonwalkers.
Created by a company called Shift Robotics, Moonwalkers are shoe attachments that help you walk faster. Essentially, you clip these attachments over your shoes, walk the same way you normally would, and glide along (up to 7 mph) on the little wheels. You’ll immediately get a sense of what it’s like by visiting their website at shiftrobotics.io.
I walk around the city A LOT. It would be amazing to be able to get where I want to go faster while still being active. Sometimes I want the exercise of walking somewhere, but because I am in a rush, I just take the bus or an UBER instead. These shoe attachments would effectively solve that issue. All in, it seems like a great purchase.
Until you see the price tag…
They’re $1,399. Yes, that’s right—$1,399.
It’s a bit disappointing. At that rate, I could just buy an electric bike or scooter.
Simultaneously, I’ve been seeing a lot of chatter on Twitter recently about how our cities and towns in America need to be more walkable. People complain that cars and roads dominate the surface area of our environments.
So even if you spend $1,399 on your shoe attachments (or your bike or scooter), it doesn’t really matter because you can’t walk most places anyway.
I’ve had the fortune of living in two very walkable cities (Philadelphia and Boston). So I understand why people want more walkable cities. There is a certain element of convenience that comes with being able to walk five minutes to the closest market as opposed to beating traffic on your drive home from work so that you can stop at the supermarket.
Ultimately, it makes me think about the future of transportation. I visited the Philly Auto Show yesterday, and the central focal point was that the future is electric. Every major car manufacturer featured at least one or two electric vehicles. The entire center of the auto show was turned into a track where people could test drive electric vehicles. I have no doubt in my mind that 5 years from now (barring some crazy event), the majority of Americans will be driving electric vehicles.
So whether you walk, bike, scooter, or drive, the point is that times are changing. The way we get around over the next 5-10 years is going to change a lot. We may get to a point where UBER is servicing drone taxi rides, as opposed to driving on the ground. And the very infrastructure of our major cities may change drastically to accommodate shifts in behavior (i.e., if most people have shoe attachments that make them walk faster, will we need a “passing lane” on the sidewalk?).
It’s fun to think about what will come in the future. But for now, I guess I’ll just stick to walking.
