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Next hebdomad at CES , Austin - based Shift Robotics will debut a vamp version of their viral strike robotic shoes . The Moonwalker X is a full pound light per shoe and features some fundamental control system acclivity . The young shoes will also be available in smaller sizes .
The original Moonwalkers caused a major splash online when they were announced via Kickstarter in October 2022 . Videos of users appearing to effortlessly glide across pavement helped propel the crusade to $ 329,000 .
I write them upback in May , after I had a chance to examine them out at the Automate conference in Detroit . I — like many others — gloss on two central drawback with the organization . First , they weighed four pounds per shoe . secondly , there ’s a definite learning bender — something I come across chop-chop using them to navigate a bustling show flooring .
It seems the troupe has tackled both issues with the new versions of the shoe debuting next week . The shoes will go on sale soon — though accurate timing and price have yet to be unwrap . The originals were quite cost - prohibitive at $ 1,400 . Of naturally , R&D is a big ingredient in first - genesis hardware Price . A small product tally was almost for certain at play , as well — price per unit tends to drop considerably as you scale .
I was a moment surprised to see the gamey - technical school roller skates at an industrial show like Automate last year , but as I take down at the time , Shift has identified a major possible market place in the logistics / warehouse world .
“ In explicate X , our focus was clear : enhancing productivity without compromising safety machine , ” pronounce father and CEO Xunjie Zhang in a release . “ By collaborating closely with our 3PL spouse , we ’ve tuned Moonwalkers X to meet the severity of storage warehouse environments with an steady commitment to worker safety . ”
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devote that the price will likely stay prohibitive for many consumer , focusing on workplace productivity makes sense . company will happily vanquish out money for technology they trust will save them in the farsighted campaign .
More next week as we go hand - on at CES .
