High-tech dancing shoes teach you how to groove

Industrial designer Tom Sykes created these 'interactive urban dance trainers' to get kids moving. (Tom Sykes / Behance.net)Got two left feet? There's an app for that -- and some sneakers, too.

The GroundWave Shadow Trainer, a concept shoe created by Industrial Designer Tom Sykes, is equipped with sensors to track a dancer's every movement.

The sensors are connected to a smartphone app, which offers a person real-time feedback to tell them how they're doing while dancing to specific tracks.

Using the app-trainer combo, shoe owners can create their own dance crews, share high scores via social media, and challenge friends to a quantifiable dance-off.

The designer's sketch, found on his blog, shows how a smartphone app works with the trainers to provide feedback while dancing. (Tom Sykes / Behance.net)

As fun as it sounds from a gaming perspective, Sykes has bigger plans for the Shadow Trainer than making it the next Nintendo Wii - such as fighting childhood obesity.

"The aim of this project is to produce a design proposal for a product that introduces exercise into a child's life in an innovative and exciting way," he wrote on his website.
"Whereas many products, such as the Wii approach the union of physical interaction and gaming with a bias towards the game and start with the gaming platform, this product gives full attention to the quality of the exercise thus approaching the union with a bias towards the health benefits."

Sykes says that he chose urban dance as the primary dance style for this platform because of its cultural relevancy within the inner city youth market.

A concept sketch, produced by Tom Sykes for his final year project at Loughborough University. (Tom Sykes / Behance.net)

The GroundWave Shadow Trainer is not yet in production, but could very well be soon.

Sykes, who created the trainers for his final year project at the Loughborough University Design school, has received the 2012 James Dyson Foundation Bursary for his invention, valued at up to $32,000 CAD.

How are your dancing skills? Would you use special shoes to help you learn to dance? Let us know your thoughts below.