Robo Walking With Mechanized Shoes

If you enjoy walking and running but tire out sooner than you’d like and don’t go as far as you’d prefer, Nike has designed a bionic sneaker to help you go farther with less effort.

Nike describes its Project Amplify as “the world’s first powered footwear system for running and walking.” The company says its wearable robotic system is not designed for elite “competitive, faster runners trying to shave seconds off their time.”

“Amplify is designed for that everyday athlete to give them the energy they need to go further, to go faster, with greater levels of confidence,” Mike Yonker, who leads the Project Amplify development team, told NPR. “It’s like an e-bike for your feet.”

Just as electric bicycles (e-bikes) have transformed the cycling industry, especially in mountain biking, some experts predict that Nike’s Project Amplify will do the same.

According to Mark Oleson, co-founder of Avoli, a women’s volleyball shoe brand and apparel company, e-bikes have “changed the landscape of mountain biking for people that maybe didn’t have the ability or were getting older and still wanted to participate.”

So now, Oleson, a former Adidas executive who has worked on innovative projects in the athletic shoe sector, told NPR that there is a “huge opportunity where companies are asking, ‘How do we get someone into a sport or into a recreational activity that they normally wouldn’t have the ability to do.’”

Nike hopes that more people will start moving with its Project Amplify, designed to make slower-paced running, jogging, and walking easier and more fun for everyday athletes running at a 10- to 12-minute-per-mile pace. In effect, the first-generation product is like a second set of calf muscles, Nike said in its press release.

“Our job is to dream big while keeping athletes at the center,” Michael Donaghu, vice president of Nike’s Innovation Kitchen, said in a press release.

Donaghu said Project Amplify began with the question, “What if we could help athletes move faster and farther with less energy and a lot more fun?”

“At its core, Project Amplify is about seamlessly adding a little more power to your stride,” Donaghu said in a press release. “The fun comes from realizing you can do more than you thought you could—whatever ‘more’ means to you.”

The motorized footwear system, built on motion algorithms developed in the Nike Sport Research Lab (NSRL), aims to boost each stride the wearer takes.

Project Amplify isn’t on the market yet, but Nike plans to launch the mechanized sneaker in 2028.

How Project Amplify Works

The footwear system, which looks like something out of a science-fiction movie, has several parts that include:

The small, lightweight motor connects to the rechargeable cuff that wraps around the calf. The cuff connects to the carbon plate inside the shoe. A smartphone app controls the technology, turning it on and off and switching between walk and run modes.

The motor actively lifts the heel of the shoe with each step, providing a “kick” or spring that reduces the energy needed by the wearer. This helps with ankle and calf movement during each step, adding a gentle forward push as the wearer walks or runs.

Chloe Veltman, a correspondent on NPR’s Culture Desk, tested the Project Amplify system at the LeBron James Innovation Center in Beaverton, Oregon, which Nike owns and operates. Veltman said that after “getting over the surprise” of wearing the bionic sneakers, “it kind of feels like my feet are being pushed more aggressively forward.”

Alison Sheets-Singer, Project Amplify’s lead scientist, explained to NPR that the system learns “how your ankles are moving, how long your steps are, taking the algorithms and customizing them for you. So that when it turns on, it feels natural and smooth.”

The NSRL conducted a trial of the Project Amplify system that involved over 400 athletes of all abilities and intensities. Nike tested over nine versions of the hardware on NSRL’s 200-meter (about 218 yards) track. Runners took more than 2.4 million steps (roughly 12,000 laps) while Nike focused on improving various elements of the system.

According to Nike, the athletes said the system felt like part of their bodies and made walking or running uphill feel like walking or running on flat ground. The system enabled some to go from a 12-minute mile to a 10-minute mile.

Nike says that Project Amplify is designed to provide enough battery life to run about 10 kilometers (a little over six miles) before needing to recharge. The batteries are rechargeable and can be replaced with fresh ones if the wearer wants to walk or run longer.

Nike collaborated with Dephy, a Massachusetts-based startup, to develop Project Amplify. Dephy launched a similar product, Sidekick, a powered, wearable ankle exoskeleton that provides a gentle push at the heel with each step, making walking easier.

Elizabeth Semmelhack, the director and senior curator of the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto, noted that we all have a natural urge to walk faster, whether we need to get somewhere or just for thrills or pleasure.

“The Nike Amplify comes from this long legacy of trying to increase speed and use science to help us get there,” Semmelhack told NPR.

While Nike is known for partnering with professional athletes to promote its products, this time around, the company emphasizes that Project Amplify is for everyday athletes.

“If you have a body, you’re an athlete,” Yonker told NPR.

While Project Amplify is new, Nike’s goal of discovering innovative ways to get people to move is not new.

“We’ve always believed movement is medicine, and Project Amplify is the next chapter in that story,” Donaghu said in a press release. “It’s a bold leap forward, crossing a new threshold of putting power directly into your stride.”

Source Links:
https://www.npr.org/2026/02/10/nx-s1-5698195/nike-amplify-bionic-sneakers
https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/nike-project-amplify-official-images