Nike’s electric bike inspired shoe: Helping everyday athletes go further with less effort

When your legs are sore and your breath is short, a slow ascent up a neighborhood hill can feel like a small mountain. Many casual runners and brisk walkers can relate.

Project Amplify, Nike's newly arrived powered footwear system, is trying to change that daily life experience by providing a stealthy and sustained boost to your stride. The notion is that if movement feels easier, you'll go further, and if you go further, you'll start to believe you can do more with your body.

Project Amplify combines motion science with robotics to support and complement the natural roll of your lower leg and ankle. Rather than replace muscle, the technology applies a light boost to your stride as you step. The shoe contains a compact motor, a drive belt, and a rechargeable cuff battery with a plated carbon fiber running shoe. You can wear that shoe with or without the powered system, which gives it a familiar feel even before the motor turns on.

The design has evolved from years of work at the Nike Sport Research Lab, where experts in movement have studied how our bodies move while exercising. The team developed motion algorithms to interact and support your stride in real-time.

In short, researchers believe the system feels as if you have another set of calf muscles. When ascending a hill in these shoes, your brain will understand the hill is steep, while your legs will feel as if it is simply easy, almost like you are gliding over flat pavement.

Over multiple years, more than 400 people tested early versions of the system. They walked and ran over 2.4 million steps in outdoor testing and on the 200-meter track in the lab. Some testers reported that the system felt as if it were connected to their body. Others reported that a previously tiring pace suddenly felt doable. A couple even cut their mile pace by two minutes, going from a 12-minute mile, to a 10-minute mile.

The biggest goal of the system is not to help competitive runners shave seconds off a race, but to help a person who enjoys a slower run, an easy jog, or a long walk, to make those times feel less tiring. Many people run at a pace that is 10 to 12 minutes per mile, and Nike wants to support that group the most. This focus replicates the electric bike boom, which gets people to ride their bikes more and farther without feeling beat down. Nike is comparing Project Amplify to the electric bike for your feet.

Michael Donaghu, Nike’s Vice President of Create The Future, Emerging Sport and Innovation, said the idea started with a simple question. "What if we could discover a way to assist athletes in running faster and further, expending less energy, and having more enjoyment? At its core, Project Amplify is about adding just a little more power to your stride. The enjoyment comes from the realization that you can do things you didn't realize you could, whatever 'more' means to you."

Project Amplify is still in development. Nike and its robotics partner, Dephy, are working to prototype a system that will ensure it works seamlessly for many body and movement types. Nike plans a wide consumer launch in the next several years, but no launch day has been established yet.

While this may feel like a new direction for the company, Donaghu, said it reflects a long history of trying new things. He pointed to Bill Bowerman's early experiments with rubber and a waffle iron to launch a new era of running shoes; in the same way, powered footwear opens up what a shoe can do by putting energy into your step.

Nike is not the only group pushing enhanced movement technology. Dephy, Nike's partner for Project Amplify, is readying a device called the Sidekick, a powered ankle wearable designed to help people walk greater distances with less fatigue.

In Pittsburgh, Shift Robotics created a Moonwalker shoe that uses AI and eight small wheels that can adjust based on your pace, weight, and surface below. In Switzerland, engineers at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences even produced a shoe capable of harnessing kinetic energy from each step and converting this energy into electricity through a piezoelectric generator. This shoe does not need a battery and can send motion data to your phone.

Other robotics companies, including ReWalk Robotics, build exoskeletons intended to help people who are not able to walk on their own. Although these devices address different needs, they share the same goal: they all want to make movement easier and more accessible.

For a great number of people, the selling point of Project Amplify is emotional as much as physical. When simply moving seems lighter, the world feels a little bigger. You might take the long route home, add an extra lap around the park to your morning run, or feel less anxious about going on that hike with friends. Small acts over time can change your health and confidence in movement.

Project Amplify could allow more people to stay active longer without frailty, fatigue, or joint strain. Eased movement may help heart health, decrease injury risk, and improve mobility for people who struggle going uphill or longer distances.

Technology may also stimulate new recovery tools, support healthy aging, and engage farmers to reconsider how footwear can help people stay mobile and confident.

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