Motorized Shoes

October 1, 2010 - Peter Treadway's motorized shoe invention is a finalist for the James Dyson Award which will be announced next week. The motorized shoe looks far more useful than the Segway* and, significantly, will not require cities to be redesigned around it. Unlike the Segway this could actually be the beginning of a revolution in personal transportation. One thing is certain. If Treadway's shoe has commercial success there will be many imitators. Here's a video of a prototype in use.

*The Segway is a masterpiece of innovation but it is an expensive and cumbersome solution to a problem, personal transportation, that has much lower cost and more efficient solutions, such as a pair of sneakers or a bike. That said, the Segway remains an undeniably brilliant invention from super-inventor Dean Kamen and his team. The efforts to commercialize it likewise deserve enormous respect. Sadly, Jimi Helselden, the man who took responsibility for making and selling the Segway died last week. In an ironic accident he rode a Segway over a cliff when he reversed it to let a pedestrian pass by.