Athletes today - even weekend amateurs - take their equipment as seriously as their sports. As a result, athletic-shoe designers are forever in search of new ideas and materials that provide better performance. And now computers have been added to the list of options : shoes are now available that can tell how fast you've run and how many calories you've burned in the effort.

... The highest state of the sports-footwear art is a shoe whose integrated microprocessors electronically record and calculate almost anything runners might want to know about their performance The Puma R.S. Computer Shoe and Software Package, created by Puma of Herzoge-naurach, West Germany, is the more sophisticated model of the two being introduced. Not only do you purchase a pair of top-line running shoes but you also get the software and the cable to connect them directly to your home computer. A watertight plastic chamber attached to the shoe's heel houses the computer circuitry, with two toggle switches protruding from its top. Before setting off, a runner flicks one switch to turn the shoe on and sets the other to either the "test" or "run" mode.

The shoe's computer then measures stride length and running distance, counts the number of paces and tracks time elapsed. It can also be programmed to beep when the runner has reached a particular distance. After a run, the shoe is connected by cable to either an Apple IIe or Commodore 64 computer. The shoe's information is loaded into the computer and, using the software program, a runner can evaluate running performance, measure caloric expenditure and chart performance goals. The Puma RS package, expected to reach the market in early 1986, will sell for $200. An IBM-compatible shoe should follow soon thereafter.

The Micropacer computer running shoe, made by Adidas, of West Germany, is a self-contained model with a microprocessor fitted over the laces of the left shoe. The face of the computer resembles a digital LCD watch face and connects by a wire to a sensor built into the sole of the shoe underneath the big toe. A runner programs stride length and body weight using two buttons on the readout face. After a run, the readout displays distance, time, average speed and caloric expenditure. The Micropacer should reach the market in the early fall and will sell for about $ 125.

Adaptedfrom "New Products and Processes"
NEWSWEEK, August 5, 1985

VOCABULAIRE :

1. a state-of-the-art article or top-line article  is an article of superior quality,
2. R/S : Reset/Set = bascule électronique R. S.
3. flicks : sets
4.a toggle switch : un interrupteur A bascule
5. L.C.D. Liquid Crystal Display
6. Readout sortie de m6moire
7. fall : autumn

QUESTIONS

1 - Traduire

a) Paragraphe 1, de "Athletes today…” à “the effort".
b) Dernier paragraphe, de "The Micropacer computer ...” à $125”

II - Compréhension globale
 Résumer l'article en français (environ 100 mots)

III - Expression écrite
In your future work you might have to design and/or build automated machines equipped with microprocessors. What kind of machines are you particularly
interested in, and why ?
 
 

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