This seems as overengineered as Juicero. Technology for technology's sake.
I suppose you are thinking "Why should I care, those Walmart sneakers fit me just fine" but if you had to pay podiatrist $400 for custom orthotics every year this article would get your attention.
TFA says the first applications are for elite athletes.
Pravda says this is potentially a way to free the poorest paid workers of the world from some of the most difficult repititious labour.
Isaac Asimov says in the future lots of things will be made this way.
What will all the people be doing in the future when all the work is done by machines? Some of them will be writing novels, and editing documentaries, about how the world used to be before robots.
And evolved to walk to walk barefoot.
> I suppose you are thinking "Why should I care, those Walmart sneakers fit me just fine"
No, I use comfortable quality shoes. But most feet aren't that unique that a massproduced shoe that conforms to them after a break in period wont fit them.
> Pravda says this is potentially a way to free the poorest paid workers of the world from some of the most difficult repititious labour.
Do you expect millions of low price shoes to be produced by specialized machines after taking a 3D scan of your foot?
> What will all the people be doing in the future when all the work is done by machines?
I don't have anything against machines or robots, just as I don't have anything against regular juice presses. You can automate those jobs with more conventional robots. Having custom shoes printed to order is not a realistic production method for the vast majority of shoes sold. When it comes to bespoke equipment for a handful of elite athletes or rich hobbyists anything goes of course, you can already buy 3D printed bike saddles and handle bars, but this is not the future of shoe manufacturing for the masses.
There will be a lot of poor people with no income. That is not a recipe for a good ending.
A new way of manufacturing won't have the same tradeoffs and limitations, the setup costs, tolerances, material properties. Direct injection is how Adidas makes something like 350 million pairs of shoes a year now. And they have been selling 3d printed soles with knit uppers for a couple years now. The innovation in this story is more about the design and the manufacturing process than the materials. You can't buy size 13.5, or wide or narrow(except a few models), or a pair where one is a half size smaller or larger traditionally. And beyond just the sizing, there is a lot more aesthetically when you are customizing at the individual level.
If Adidas can solidify the tech and pave a way forward, this could be huge.
[0] https://www.adidas.com/us/blog/562694
[1] https://www.sneakerfactory.net/2020/04/knit-shoe-constructio...