New self-repairing bio-shoe concept unveiled

Shamees Aden, a British designer and scientist, has come up with a concept for a pair of self-repairing shoes of synthetic protocell materials.

Protocells are molecules that on their own are not alive, but when used with other types of protocells can mimic the properties of living organisms. They react to heat, light and pressure like live cells.

Aden’s concept for the shoes is that they could be 3D printed to the exact size of the wearer and when worn the shoes would react to heat and pressure to grow and expand in pressure points where more cushioning is needed. They would be kept in protocell fluid overnight to regenerate.

The concept was unveiled at Wearable Futures, a conference dedicated to how new technologies and ideas can be used in and designed into wearable devices.

“As you’re running on different grounds and textures it’s able to inflate or deflate depending on the pressure you put onto it and could help support you as a runner,”  Aden told Dezeen, a design magazine. “You would take the trainers home and you would have to care for it as if it was a plant, making sure it has the natural resources needed to rejuvenate the cells.”

The concept is one which could be a consumer reality and expanded to items beyond clothing by 2050.