Indian start- up launches smart shoe that gives directions by vibrating

GPS- enabled smart sports shoe vibrates to give wearer directions

Wizard of Oz heroine Dorothy only had to click her ruby red slippers together and they would spirit her home to Kansas.

Now, an Indian high- tech start- up is promising to do the same in real life with a new, GPS- enabled smart sports shoe that vibrates to give the wearer directions.

The fiery red sneakers, which will also count the number of steps taken, distance travelled and calories burned, will go on sale in September under the name LeChal, which means “take me along” in Hindi.

The shoes come with a detachable Bluetooth transceiver that links to a smartphone app to direct the wearer using Google maps, sending a vibrating signal to indicate a left or right turn.

They are the brainchild of 30- year- old Krispian Lawrence and Anirudh Sharma, 28, two engineering graduates who founded their tech start- up Ducere in a small apartment in 2011 with backing from angel investors and now employ 50 people.

“We got this idea and realised that it would really help visually chal- lenged people, it would work without any audio or physical distractions,” said Lawrence.

“But then we were trying it out on ourselves and suddenly we were like, ‘ wait a minute, even I would want this’, because it felt so liberating not having to look down at your phone or being tied to anything.”

“The footwear works instinctively. Imagine if someone taps your right shoulder, your body naturally reacts to turn right, and that’s how LeChal works”.

Smart shoes aimed at specific demographic markets — such as dementia sufferers and children whose parents want to keep track of their movements — are already commercially available.

Lawrence and Sharma believe theirs will be the first to target mass consumers and have focused on creating stylish rather than purely functional footwear. Like the red sneaker they will also have an insole to allow users to slip the technology into their own shoes.