Resurgence Weekly Review: Powered Shoes and Performance Enhancements. Where Do We Draw the Line?
Source: Nike - Project Amplify Prototype
1. Nike’s New Robotic Shoe: Project Amplify
Nike has unveiled an early look at Project Amplify, a prototype “robotic shoe” in collaboration with Dephy Robotics, a company specializing in wearable robotics and exoskeleton technology. Nike plans to release it commercially around 2028.
The concept: a motorized assist system built into a shoe that helps propel the user forward. It consists of:
A battery pack cuff around the ankle
A motorized lever at the heel that gently pulls upward at the end of each step
A removable mechanism, allowing you to recharge the battery and wear the shoe on its own
Essentially, it’s an ankle mounted exoskeleton for your foot. A hybrid between a running shoe and a robotic assist device.
It appears the target market the shoe is designed for is recreational runners and people on their feet all day, not elite athletes. In fact, professional runners wouldn’t be able to use these due to performance enhancement rules. That raises the obvious question: who is this really for?
From one angle, it sounds like an exciting innovation, tech that can reduce fatigue, assist recovery, and make movement easier for people with mobility limitations. But from another, it’s worth asking:
Do we really need a propulsive shoe for fitness? Isn’t that counterproductive to the point of exercise?
For athletes, rehab patients, and even everyday exercisers, part of the benefit of movement is the work itself, the metabolic demand, the challenge, and the adaptation that follows. If your shoe is doing part of the work for you, are you still training your body the same way?
There is a case for this technology beyond fitness, though. Exoskeletons are already being explored for:
Physically demanding jobs (factory, warehouse, or construction work)
Military applications (reducing fatigue or injury during load-bearing activity)
Rehabilitation settings, where assistance can help re-train gait and strength safely
Still, in the fitness world, it’s an interesting philosophical debate. When does innovation cross into interference?
It’s an interesting advancement toward the future of footwear, but it also raises the question: are we evolving human performance, or just outsourcing effort?
Aron D'Souza is the founder of the Enhanced Games
2. The Enhanced Games: The Olympics on Steroids
Now… If Nike’s robotic shoe is pushing the limits of mechanical performance enhancement, the Enhanced Games are pushing the limits of biological ones.
If you haven’t heard of The Enhanced Games, it’s set to launch in May 2026 in Las Vegas. It’s essentially a new version of the Olympics, but performance enhancing drugs and technology are allowed.
The tagline could almost be “Olympics without limits.” Events will include swimming, track, and weightlifting, and athletes can earn large cash prizes. Organizers describe it as:
“A world of logical and physical extremes, unencumbered by the rules, regulations, or doping controls of traditional competition.”
It’s both fascinating and controversial. Athletes are encouraged to push the boundaries of human performance, pharmacologically and technologically. Ultra-buoyant swimsuits? Allowed. Anabolic agents or peptide stacks? Allowed. Additionally, it’s important to note that this is done under medical supervision and with full physiological testing.
In theory, it’s a bold experiment that poses an interesting question. How far can human potential go if science is allowed to augment it?
But there’s an obvious counterpoint… the side effects. The long term health risks of anabolic steroids, growth hormones, and other enhancers are well documented. Those can consist of heart issues, organ damage, hormonal imbalance, psychological effects, and shortened lifespan.
Even the World Anti-Doping Agency has called the Enhanced Games a “dangerous and irresponsible undertaking.”
And while organizers insist that these athletes are medically monitored with bloodwork, testing, and controlled programs, they’re careful not to encourage others to follow their lead. As one Enhanced Games athlete put it:
“I don’t want to encourage anyone to copy my program without medical advice.”
From an ethical standpoint, the Enhanced Games raise difficult questions:
Is it still sport if enhancement is unrestricted?
Where does the line fall between training and modification?
If we celebrate artificially boosted performance, do we undermine what sport stands for?
That said, it’s also impossible to deny the spectacle and entertainment value of watching such extremes of human potential.
It’s bound to stir controversy, but it also forces an uncomfortable question. How far are we willing to push the idea of human performance?
3. Connecting the Dots
Whether it’s a robotic sneaker helping you walk further or a competition encouraging chemical enhancement, the core question is the same:
How far are we willing to go to enhance human performance?
As a physical therapist and performance specialist, I see both sides.
Innovation has incredible potential to improve movement, reduce pain, and enhance recovery. But it’s worth remembering, the foundation of human performance still lies in training, consistency, and health. Tech and drugs can enhance outcomes, but they shouldn’t replace effort or ethics.
Sources
Nike Project Amplify: https://www.wired.com/story/nike-project-amplify/
Wall Street Journal - The Enhanced Games: https://www.wsj.com/sports/enhanced-games-swimmer-world-record-doping-c415384b?mod=djemMTIPOFF_h