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Disabilities

HyperAdapt 1 Black Colorway How Buy Nike self lacing Grey White
Fashion, Shoes, Wearable Technology

Everything You Need To Know About Nike’s HyperAdapt Sneaker Launch

HyperAdapt 1 Black Colorway How Buy Nike self lacing Grey White

If you weren’t lucky enough to win one of Nike’s functional reproductions of the self-lacing Mag sneaker from Back To The Future, don’t fret; something arguably more exciting is launching this week. Sure, the Mags were amazing from a retro-cool perspective, but on December 1st Nike is launching the first mass produced self-lacing sneaker. Named HyperAdapt 1.0, the sneakers represent the future of where the footwear giant believes their industry is headed.

While the easiest way to describe the HyperAdapt 1.0 is “self lacing,” Nike isn’t a big fan of the term and favors referring to the tech as “adaptive fit.” That likely comes from the fact that the HyperAdapt is a direct descendant of the Mag. When the Mag was original created for Back To The Future 2, the designers at Nike wanted to create a futuristic vision of a better athletic sneaker, something that would come alive and sense you, adjusting to the shape of your foot. In other words, adapt to you. After the release of Back To The Future 2, there was a huge outpouring by fans for Nike to create an actual Mag and bring it to market. As the years passed, the requests kept coming in and at a certain point teams within Nike started to brainstorm whether such technology could actually be created and designed to fit within a shoe. After nearly three decades of discussions and 11 years of R&D, the HyperAdapt 1.0 became a reality. The shoes are truly the Nike Mag reimagined for today.  

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Watches

Dot: The Smartwatch For The Visually Impaired

Dot Braille Smartwatch

Smart devices are pretty amazing, but those glossy, smooth touch screens don’t provide much tactile feedback for those who are visually impaired. Accessibility features on phones have helped the situation but not solved them and most smart watches have, at best, very limited accessibility features. The visually impaired have largely been left behind in the digital revolution due to real-time digital text. Whether it is information on an ATMs touch screen or a text from a family member, if you are visually impaired your best option has been to have the device read the screen to you. Active Braille technology, which displays changing Braille in real time, does exist but up until now has cost thousands of dollars. Active Braille not only allows for a much more personal and intimate experience than having a computerized voice read things out loud, but also allows electronic books to be displayed in Braille (only about 1% of books are printed in Braille). Unfortunately the price has stalled adaption of the technology and, as a result, literacy is a becoming a serious issue among the blind.

Dot is aiming to disrupt the active Braille market with their $300 smartwatch. The bluetooth device can display four letters at a time at up to 100 letters per second. Using voice commands,  

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ReWalk Personal 6.0 exoskeleton
Wearable Technology

ReWalk’s Exoskeleton Lets Paralyzed Man Walk NYC Sidewalk

ReWalk Personal 6.0 exoskeleton

Earlier this week something incredible happened in NYC; a paralyzed man walked down the street. With the help of ReWalk Robitic’s newest exoskeleton Robert Woo, an architect who in 2007 was paralyzed by a worksite accident, was able to walk out of a building into the hustled flow of New Yorkers. The new ReWalk Personal 6.0 is a sizable step forward for exoskeletons. Exoskeletons can be used to give people super-human strength, but, much more importantly, can be used to restore movement to paralyzed individuals. ReWalk and Ekso Bionics are currently the market leaders in exoskeletons to help people walk, but ReWalk is the only to receive clearance for use outside of a clinical environment with medical supervision. Their new 6.0 model has seen tremendous advancement, both from a hardware and software perspective. The leg-braces have been slimmed down, support straps now more evenly distribute the weight, and the cumbersome backpack that had housed the processor has been scaled down to a large fannypack. On the software side, the exoskeleton, which is controlled via a watch, now performs better on steps, has a smoother and faster gait, and features improved stopping. The implications of exoskeleton technology for people with disabilities are profound and Woo credits the ReWalk technology for lifting him out of a deep depression.

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