For the launch of the new Nike Vapormax, we faced a significant task: to provide people with an experience as innovative as the new sneakers themselves, allowing them to experience the unique benefit of being the only sneakers where air was the only thing between the ground and their feet.
This challenge drove us to build a giant transparent sole suspended in the air with steel cables connected to motors mounted in a structure on the ceiling. Similarly, the system was connected to a device that allowed us to track hand positions at 300 hertz. This meant we could recognize when the user moved their hands, triggering the motors that moved the sole, creating the impression that the user could move the giant sole just by moving their hands.