This is a linkpost for https://www.bhauth.com/blog/industrial%20design/spring%20shoes.html

There's something intuitively intriguing about the concept of shoes with spring elements, something that made many kids excited about getting "moon shoes", but they found the actual item rather disappointing. Using springs somehow with legged movement also makes some logical sense: walking and running involve cyclic energy changes, and the Achilles tendon stores some elastic energy. Is that perspective missing something?

big springs

In a sense, spring elements in shoes are standard: sneakers have elastic foam in the soles, and maximizing the sole bounciness does slightly improve running performance. Jumping stilts are the modern version of spring shoes. They actually work, which also means they're quite dangerous - if what the kids who wanted moon shoes imagined was accurate, their parents wouldn't have bought that for them. The concept is obvious, but they only appeared recently; they weren't being made in 1900 [...]

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Outline:

(00:29) big springs

(02:35) heels

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First published:
December 30th, 2023

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/LwvfYGZTSud7Rsuyw/shoes-with-springs

Linkpost URL:
https://www.bhauth.com/blog/industrial design/spring shoes.html

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

[Linkpost] “shoes with springs” by bhauth

LessWrong (30+ Karma)