If you’ve been keeping up with the ongoing talk of Back To The Future 2 self lacing trainers then you’ll probably already be aware that Nike were planning on launching something significant this year, and the good news is that they’ve been confirmed as the HyperAdapt 1.0 (pictured above). While it’s not the high-top basketball trainer design featured in the film, it is at least a step in the right direction and if Nike goes on to combine its new HyperAdapt concept with the established brilliance of the Nike Air Jordan range then at least a part of the Back To The Future dream will become a reality (sadly, still nothing official on a functioning hover board).
Nike has confirmed that the HyperAdapt will be available exclusively to members of Nike+ (its app and sensor exercise activity tracker facility) just in time for Christmas 2016, so you could be self lacing by the end of the year. If you’re not already a member, joining is pretty easy at Nike.com’s registration page, and you’ll also be able to sign up for updates on the arrival of the self lacing trainers in the run up to their release.
The trainers work pretty much in the same way as the Back To The Future 2 Nike Mags high tops, with a sensor that detects your foot and tightens when you put them on. There are also two buttons on the side of the trainers to tighten and loosen the laces to your comfort, although if what the bods at Nike are saying is anything to go by, this should simply be the first iteration in the evolution of their future high-tech sports trainers range.
Nike has described the breakthrough as a “first step into the future of adaptive performance”, so we’re expecting 1.0 to be followed by a series of updates post launch as the technology becomes more sophisticated. What it’s ultimately aiming for is a self lacing system that doesn’t just tie itself, but that adapts as the conditions and your position changes, so you get a snugger fit when you’re performing a tight pivot or a looser fit as your feet expand during a long walk.
It’s probably a little while away from its level big-term goal of adaptive lacing, but the arrival of the trainers will be a big step in the right direction for Nike. To develop the technology to adapt to a whole range of different situations, we assume they’ll need a lot of data before it can refine an algorithm for the lacing system to be able to change as fast as you do when you’re playing basketball or running an iron man assault course.
The HyperAdapt 1.0 was preceded in October 2015 by the limited edition release of the Nike Mags prototype, which acted as the proof of concept for the futuristic vision. They were given as a gift to Michael J. Fox to commemorate the movie that inspired them, showcasing a real-life, working model of the power laces that have now gone on to form the framework for the new trainer range. The remaining high-tops were only available by auction with the proceeds going to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (donate at www.michaeljfox.org), but hopefully they’ll be available to the rest of us cinema-living dreamers.
It’ll be available in the UK in three colours when it launches in, with the black and white style pictures above, along with the grey and the white options below. The wave laces are pretty cool, but there’s also something cool about the all-white HyperAdapts too.
