Most of the smart wearable devices currently available on the market are being attached to people’s upper bodies either for fitness tracking or provides features already presented in smartphones. U.S. electric and motorized skates developer Acton is trying something new for wearables industry. This morning at TechCunch Beijing, Janelle Wang, founder and CEO Acton, showed off the company’s new product RocketSkates to our audiences.
If you are a fan of innovative gadgets, you probably have already heard of RocketSkates which launched a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter and received overwhelming feedback from backers. Actually, RocketSkates is an improvement on Acton’s previous offering Spnkix, which was launched last year.
Janelle introduced that the product is inspired by Nezha, a character from traditional Chinese mythology. Similar to what the mythical character rides, RocketSkates is a pair of electric skates weighted 3kg with four build-in hub motors, allowing riders to zoom at up to 12 miles per hour. Each skate has two hub motors controlled by an on-board microprocessor, and are powered by a lithium-ion battery pack. The skates communicate with each other so they maintain the same speed and behavior.
Just like with the regular skates, RocketSkates don’t require a remote to operate. Users can control the skates with their feet by tilting the skates forward to accelerate, and tilting back on your heel to apply the brakes. Because rider’s feet are so close to the ground, they can walk with the RocketSkates if they need to go up a flight of stairs or want to stop for some coffee.
Janelle mentioned that the learning experience of riding RocketSkates is very easy with an average learning time of less than 10 minutes. She added the remote-free electric skates is targeted to solve last-mile problem for urban commuters, traffic congestion as well as to bring fun to users.
Like most of the smart hardware, RocketSkates can be connected to a dedicated app via Bluetooth to monitor the skates and their performance. In addition to keeping in touch with other RocketSkaters, the app offers route tracking, skate diagnosis, battery status, games, and social interactivity features. Software Developer Kit (SDK) will also be available for developers interested in creating games and app features for RocketSkates.
image credit: RocketSkates