Adidas puts products under the microscope
Herzogenaurach, Germany (dpa) - A young female jogger is running short stretches through an indoor sports centre wearing a new type of running shoe, as well as several sensors stuck to her body.
She's not doing it for fun or fitness, but to help improve Adidas-brand shoes. The maker of trendy clothing has a team of researchers who immerse themselves in sweaty activity at a dedicated centre in the German town of Herzogenaurach where Adidas is based.
One of the technical people working at the centre, which figures out ways to perfect 100 to 150 new Adidas products annually before they go on the market, is Franz Rott, who has a degree in sports science.
"We're measuring her movements in 3-D," he explains as he watches the runner. There are 16 high-speed cameras positioned throughout the hall recording the sensors. Sensors in the floor measure how much pressure she is applying to her feet.
All that information is then used to improve the running shoe's comfort and performance.
A few metres away behind a thick steel door another athlete is sweating away on a treadmill.
The room is capable of creating its own climate and is equipped with a sun simulator and wind tunnel. Temperatures can be varied from minus 35 degrees Celsius to 50 degrees plus.
"Our aim is to find out how much sweat and how much heat is produced by which parts of the body," says textile expert Maarten Hupperets.
An essential part of Adidas' testing team is "Newton," a sweat robot.
Newton is a life-size, high-tech mannequin with 20 zones where its skin temperature and sweat production can be precisely controlled. Unlike the man on the treadmill, Newton can run and jog non-stop for 24 hours.
"The only thing he can't do is tell us how comfortable the sports clothing is," says Hupperets.
