MIT Senior Issued Patent For `Smart Shoe'

Jet, Nov 23, 1998

Ronald Demon, a senior at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), recently received a patent number for a "smart shoe" which has an adjustable support pattern to make the shoe more comfortable for the user.

At age 16 Demon, who was an avid basketball player, began to think of ways to invent something to help alleviate the pain from his aching feet after a hard day on the hardwood.

Five years ago he began the process to realize that invention at his parents' home in Miami. He started by developing a software program. After that he moved the project to Palmetto High School and eventually worked on a prototype at the Florida International University Technical Resources Center.

Now the hard work and dedication of the MIT senior, who is majoring in electrical engineering and computer science, have paid off. His all-purpose shoe automatically adapts to the wearer's needs and adjusts the cushion to suit the pace of the activity in which he or she is engaged.

The harder the user works, the softer the cushion becomes. Adjustments are made by sensors which regulate the flow of fluid from strategically placed bladders to adjust the cushion.

Demon has tested the original prototype, a size 9 1/2, by walking and running.

His invention is described simply and succinctly in the patent papers: "The invention relates generally to a shoe having an adjustable support pattern and more specifically to a shoe that selectively measures and adjusts the pressure in a number of zones beneath the user's foot as the user's foot impacts the traveling surface."