Nike’s Project Amplify is an “e-bike for your feet.”
Nike’s Project Amplify is an “e-bike for your feet.”
By Mark Wilson | Published: 2025-10-24 09:30:00 | Source: Fast Company – co-design
I’m wearing a pair of Nike running shoes. I cut a piece of metal on the heel, which wraps around my lower leg like a shin guard. The battery finally keeps going, hugging everything like a high ankle bracelet.
In all 30 seconds, I turned my legs into robots. I’m wearing Nike’s new outdoor shoe, called Project Amplify
My legs definitely feel heavier. But with every step, there’s a little kick in my heel. Like a cherry bomb exploding underfoot. When it launches next year under a new name at an undisclosed price, Project Amplify will power up to 10 kilometers on a single charge, increasing your power output by 15% to 20% along the way.
“Think of it as an e-bike for your feet,” says Michael Donaghue, a vice president at Nike who leads the Project Amplify team.
The long road to amplification
Exoskeletons offer the potential to completely reimagine human movement, so it may not be surprising to learn that Nike has been pursuing the potential of exoskeletons for 14 years.
As Donaghue explains, he started at Nike decades ago working for the co-founder of the mad scientist running coach Bill Bowerman himself, who had a tendency to say that an ounce on your feet is worth a pound on your back. As such, much of Nike’s innovation revolves around subtraction, i.e. eliminating weight to ensure the product doesn’t hinder your body.
Nike’s marathon-crushing Vaporfly shoes have offered some rebuttal to this idea, with Nike studying the possibilities of energy return, developing carbon and foam panels that can return an extra 4% of your stride. “What if, instead of playing the subtraction game, we could give you more?” Donaghue thinks. Exoskeleton research was correct in this direction, even if it was exaggerated.
But the problem a decade ago was that the components needed for automated assistance were far from complete. “The technology was too heavy, or not robust enough,” Donaghue says. “The theory did not work in practice.”
Instead of dissuading Nike, Donaghue says it kept the company focused on the longer game — and every once in a while, a new Ph.D. comes through the doors and reignites interest in the idea, just to keep the coals burning. “I think you can have a lot of shared intuition as a group of designers and researchers, and sometimes the technology isn’t ready to do that, or you’re not smart enough to figure it out,” he says.
By 2021, the team chose to try again in earnest, devoting full-time researchers to the long-term project. Some developments helped. Algorithms, sensors and microprocessors have matured. But most of all, Donaghue credits the drone industry, fueled by a new wave of lightweight, high-speed motors, with providing one of the most essential components of the Amplify project.
“This mass adoption has led to the creation of smaller, more power-dense motors at the size you might want to put on the body,” he says.
Designing the first consumer-friendly exoskeleton
Project Amplify’s design is inspired by the human body. Developed in partnership with DavyIt’s basically a robotic version of your Achilles tendon — the connection between your calf and heel muscles that powers running and jumping. As you walk, onboard sensors track your gait and try to boost your stride at just the right moment. Donaghue likens the challenge to pushing someone on a seesaw. So early, it feels weird. Too late, and meaningless. The task requires split-second accuracy, while accommodating the fact that everyone’s gait is a little different.
Nike hasn’t mastered this feat yet. During my first run through Project Amplify, I found myself battling the machine. I don’t feel like a doll, as I have done with larger exoskeletons in the past, but I don’t feel like a superhuman version of myself, either. Instead, there is too much pressure on my legs, and my heel slips a bit out of the shoe. Let me admit, it’s a bit childish to find yourself struggling to run at Nike’s headquarters, and I admit I feel desperate when another tester trying Amplify for the first time passes me effortlessly.
Tweaking the level of support and response time (simple buttons and sliders in the app) helps. And while I’m still a bit awkward, and never feel weightless in the shoes, they also lifted my butt up a 500-foot training hill, which left me reasonably but not devastated.
To me, a luxury running shoe feels like I’m running on fluff, and an e-bike can feel like I’m riding a motorcycle. I wanted a sense of one or the other in a way that didn’t exist yet in Project Amplify.
But take it off? dream! All you have to do is pull a strap on the heel, and the robot will open its latch. I remember a handful of people essential for me to wear Arc’teryx exoskeleton pants. Meanwhile, Nike has developed something that I think most people can slip on with relative ease
Polishing amplified for launch
Despite the fact that hundreds of people have taken more than 2.4 million steps using Project Amplify, Donaghue knows the product isn’t fully mature yet, and he’s even somewhat ashamed that the team is sharing a platform they haven’t yet mastered with journalists like me.
“Could we actually be in the market now?” Yes, we actually get good functional test results and feedback from most people. It doesn’t meet the threshold, like, ‘Is it likable yet?'” he says. I just think we have a responsibility to make sure this thing is going to be really ambitious. Like, it really disappears visually. Functionally, it’s just something that helps you. And if we can’t reach that threshold, then for some of us, it’s not good enough.
For now, getting this far for Nike means continuing to tweak their algorithms so people like me don’t face a learning curve when using the product. He also notes that the team still “has tools to pull” to ease the technology while increasing energy production. Of course, you should look like the fire is on your feet.
To achieve this goal, the design team developed a mock-up of Project Amplify that has more sleekness, agility and overall Nike vibe than the more massive prototypes they’ve built to date. Now it’s up to the poor engineering team to realize this vision.
As for where Project Amplify fits in the market, it’s too powerful for competitive sports, but perfect for entertainment. Longer term, Nike’s CEO isn’t making any bold predictions about potential revenues or market size, but the writing is on the wall that the era of exoskeletons is coming. This is especially for those with reduced mobility – these technologies will revolutionize the quality of life.
“There are a lot of ways that don’t quite fit into our business model. It’s a bigger swing,” says Donaghue, who admitted after a few minutes that it’s great to make such a swing, launching a product on the true edge of the company’s capabilities. “This is Nike at its best, when we’re a little bit bolder to say we’re responsible for trying to change this industry and help people move in general.” What are all the things we’re not launching that would do that?
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(Tags for translation)AI
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