Nike made hundreds of nerd dreams come true by bringing the self-lacing shoes to market. All for a noble cause, too (proceeds to go to Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research).
One of the patents backing this shoe appears to be US8769844, which describes a sensor controlled drive mechanism to enable automatic tying of laces.
A casual search takes to many interesting inventions, such as:
Gosh! So many people trying to automate this step of tying laces!
Laceless shoes: Hey! what about me?
One of the patents backing this shoe appears to be US8769844, which describes a sensor controlled drive mechanism to enable automatic tying of laces.
A casual search takes to many interesting inventions, such as:
- Weight activated tying shoe - CA2564152 & US20050198867
- Drive mechanism based fastener movement - US6691433
- Elastic strap based lace tying - US5791068
- Lace cord movement by motors - US7752774
Gosh! So many people trying to automate this step of tying laces!
Laceless shoes: Hey! what about me?