Inline skates may have reached their peak in the late-’80s, but go tell that to the folks behind the Rollkers. The French company is looking to bring its peculiar brand of attachable skates to consumers in late 2015, riding the recent wave of sustainable transportation with a futuristic gait once reserved for the likes of Back to the Future and Minority Report.
Recently showcased at the CES 2015 Unveiled, the electronic devices strap to the bottom of your feet, allowing you to move at speeds up to 7 miles per hour by simply walking as you would normally. Rollkers CEO Paul Chavand said travelators, the moving sidewalks typically found in airports, first spurred the concept, eventually culminating in a set of motorized wheels that attach to the bottom of your soles.
Though the latest, working prototypes on hand at CES 2015 are a tad heavier than you would want strapped to your feet, Chavand said the companying is working to lighten the hands-free “under shoes” before officially licensing the product. Nonetheless, the battery-powered devices require little in the way of balancing, nor do they require you to push in the way you would with a traditional pair of skates. Their ability to curb exhaust, smog, and other environmental concerns is only an added plus — so long as you can keep city hall from constantly breathing down your neck for potential violations.
Sadly, mass production seems even further down the road than licensing, as the company is still looking to finalize the concept design before moving forward with production. Pricing and the exact launch date also remain in limbo, but stay tuned for a closer look at the Rollkers when we hit the showroom floor later this week.
