Next week at CES, Austin-based Shift Robotics will debut a revamped version of its robotic shoes. The Moonwalker X is a pound lighter per shoe and features some upgrades to the core control system. The new shoes will also be available in smaller sizes.
The original Moonwalkers caused quite a stir online when they were announced via Kickstarter in October 2022. Videos of users seemingly gliding effortlessly down sidewalks helped raise the campaign to $329,000.
I wrote about them in May after I had a chance to try them out at the Automate conference in Detroit. I — like many others — commented on two main drawbacks of the system. First, they weighed four pounds per shoe. Second, there’s a definite learning curve—something I quickly discovered using them to navigate a busy show floor.
It looks like the company has addressed both issues with new versions of the shoes debuting next week. The shoes will be releasing soon — though the exact time and price have yet to be revealed. The prototypes were quite cost-prohibitive at $1,400. Of course, R&D is a big factor in first generation hardware prices. A small production run was almost certainly in play as well — the price per unit tends to drop significantly as you scale up.
I was a little surprised to see the high-tech skates at an industry show like Automate last year, but as I noted at the time, Shift has identified a significant potential market in the logistics/warehousing world.
“In developing X, our focus was clear: enhancing productivity without compromising security,” founder and CEO Xunjie Zhang says in a release. “Working closely with our 3PL partners, we’ve tuned Moonwalkers X to meet the rigors of warehouse environments with an unwavering commitment to worker safety.”
Since the price will likely remain prohibitive for many consumers, focusing on workplace productivity makes sense. Companies will happily spend money on technology they believe will save them money in the long run.
More next week as we go hands-on at CES.
