- Walking Shoes of Future with Built-in Sensors Linked to Your Smartphone Developed in Collaboration with New Balance Japan -

KDDI Corporation has announced the FUMM concept - the walking shoes of the future with built-in sensors linked to your smartphone, through its "au Unlimited Future Laboratory" website which has been developed to create the future of communication.

au Unlimited Future Laboratory has been recruiting customers as researchers and regularly holding "hackathons" and "online discussions" in which participants develop ideas and build prototypes under the theme of "inventing the next smartphone".

Moreover, the laboratory has also been inviting experts from various fields to participate in activities as special researchers, and has been co-creating "next smartphone" concept models.

FUMM is a futuristic pair of walking shoes developed in collaboration with the sports brand New Balance Japan, Inc. (President: Tomoo Tomita, head office: Chuo-ku, Tokyo) under the theme of "Making the ordinary walks an adventure." It makes sounds for each footstep in accordance with bodily movements and the walking location to turn children's walks into "adventures." The sensors in the shoes detect the height and the color of the ground, as well as the movements such as walking and running, and it can be linked with a smartphone to create a variety of games.

FUMM can provide fun outing. Parents and children using FUMM can create their own games which can provide parent-child communication and enhance child's creativity. Parents can also know the whereabouts of their children through the footsteps and the Bluetooth radio waves, to let the children enjoy their walks safely.

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