Gadgetory

- Oh my God, am I gonna break this shoe? Go in there. Okay. (robotic humming) Oh it, it feels me. Nike's introducing it's second version of it's self-lacing HyperAdapt shoes, the Adapt BB. And this pair is a lot more affordable at 350 dollars, pairs over a Bluetooth, and remembers how tight you like your shoes. It's a ton of technology packed right under the arch of your foot. People are probably going to buy it in droves, just like they do with most any other Nike shoe, but what does it mean when your shoe acts more like gadget? We wanted to see what they're all about, so we're here today at Nike's campus to try them out. (robotic humming) (exhales loudly) Okay, so these are them. This is a prototype version. This is not the color way they're gonna be released in, but I've never worn these before. I've never worn the first version either. After all of this hype. This is kind of hard. Okay, that's in. Let's see if I can press some buttons. (robotic humming) Ohhhhhh. Now we're tightening. (robotic humming) Oooh. It's like giving my foot a hug. Yeah, that is much tighter. Can you guys picture LeBron doing this at the sidelines during the game. Pressing down on his buttons. Although these were neat to try on, and unlike any other shoe I've ever worn, I'm not convinced self-lacing shoes are the future, so I chatted with Nike visionary, long time designer of the Jordan's, and the creator behind the self-lacing shoe concept, Tinker Hatfield. - I was invited into the process of designing products for Back to the Future II. It just occurred to me, a shoe that would come alive when you touch it, and it recognizes you, essentially adapts to you, seemed like a very, out there, futuristic idea, but on the other hand, it also seemed like it would be doable at some point in time. (robotic beeping and humming) - Power laces, all right! - [Ashley] The Back to the Future shoe was just a prop. There were people controlling the shoe through strings below the floor. Actual self-lacing shoes didn't come out until the Nike Mag's in 2016. Then a few months later, the HyperAdapt 1.0's followed. This third version refines everything from those two shoes, and gets the HyperAdapt ready for a wide release. - Such a huge amount of effort and engineering that went into this motor. And it's not just the invention of the motor, but then' it's how it's been finalized so we can build it for many other people to use. - [Ashley] This motor is key to making the shoe mainstream. The HyperAdapt 1.0 had tons of cables and wires connecting the laces, motors, and lights. It was a tangled, delicate set-up. Compare that to the Adapt BB, where the shoe's technology has been completely re-engineered for mass manufacturing. All the shoe needs to make it smart is it's lacing cable and lace engine. The cable's threaded through the motorized spool you see in the lace engine, which then winds around the spool, making the shoe tighter. All the techy stuff is in that engine too. Literally everything. Of course, you don't think about any of the tech inside when you're wearing the shoes, but that doesn't change the fact that you're walking on top of a lithium ion battery, and a bunch of other electronics. That's a little scary to me. Jordan Rice, engineer of HyperAdapt, tells me not to worry though, and he walked me through how the team tests the shoes to make sure they won't explode. - So, we've put it out in the field, we've put it on athletes, we've put it on NCAA athletes, semi-pro athletes, athletes that play professionally overseas and come home for the summer, and then regular athletes playing hoops on a Thursday night. We literally beat it up really, really hard right over top of the lace engine in the shoe. - All right, so like, vintage HyperAdapt 2.0. - So you mean, like, five years down the line? - Yeah, like five years, I wore the hell out of mine, but I'm ready to sell them. - Yeah. - 'Cause it's it's a bad example. I can't, it doesn't matter about the app support or anything, it's just like, I can't tighten the shoes ever again, right? - Yeah, I mean, the shoe is dependent on this lace engine. There's not a manual lacing method for it. In terms of battery decay, most of the batteries that you see decay in your normal devices do so because they're being charged and discharged every day. And so, you have a certain number of cycles. You go through 365 of those on your phone in a year. It would take you a very long time, at 10 to 14 days battery life, to go through 365 on these. - [Ashley] Jordan thinks the shoe isn't going to die anytime soon. And anyway, the shoe is smart enough that it will always save enough battery to unlace. Worst case scenario though, you can check your battery life through the app, and control some other things. - Pair it over Bluetooth, and then it'll do a quick tighten, loosen on your feet to sense, kind of, the optimal setting. Once you have a setting you like, you can also set a mode and save it. - Self-lacing shoes are a really interesting idea that anyone who geeks out on tech or sneakers will probably want to try. Personally, I'm not going to rush out to buy these shoes, because I'm not a sneakerhead, and I'm not a basketball player. These just aren't the right shoes for me right now. But Nike really seems to believe these are the future. - We've learned how to make shoes a lot better, so they don't stretch as much, but they want a, everybody wants fresh, new shoes all the time. Our next goal will be to make this in more colors and more styles. If somebody switched shoes, we would like them to... And they would probably like to switch to another shoe that has the same technology in it. - Nike clearly has grander plans for this technology, and you can even see hints of it in the name. Adapt BB stands for adapt basketball, so in the future, a different kind of shoe might have a different name, like a running shoe might be Adapt R, or something like that. But even if this adaptive fit technology doesn't take off, it's not the end of the world. Nike will go on and so will laces. - And we'll make sure that there's still cool shoes, even 20 years from now that have laces. Can we shake on that? - Yeah, we'll hold you to it. - Hold me to it if I'm still kicking. - (laughs) Oh my gosh. Dark note to end on. - Oh, dark, yes. - Hey, thanks for going on this self-lacing journey with me. Tell me in the comments, do you want to wirelessly charge your shoes? Do you hate tying your shoes? Lemme know. And as always, stay locked to The Verge for all the future tech content you'll ever need.