Dominic Wilcox creates a GPS shoe that guides you home

Intoxication is now a lesser problem, especially for those who cannot trace their way back home after a few barrels. Crafted as a prototype by Dominic Wilcox, the shoes are called ‘No Place Like Home’ shoes, simply because the manage to redirect you home, each time you stray away. This means that you will be able to find your way home no matter how badly ‘hammered’ you are. The shoes make use of GPS navigation to find your way. Wilcox worked with interactive arts and technology expert Becky Stewart and local Northampton shoe maker Stamp Shoes to create the bespoke leather shoes. They transfer your home details and location via USB and stay there to guide you home forever. Head after a jump to read what the man himself had to say.

“I was commissioned by the Global Footprint project in Northamptonshire, a place famous for shoe making, to create some shoes. I decided to make a pair of shoes that can navigate you to anywhere you wish to travel to. I thought about the Wizard of Oz and how Dorothy could click her shoes together to go home. After uploading your required destination to the shoes via a piece of custom made mapping software and a USB cable, the GPS, which is embedded in the heel, is activated by a heel click. It then communicates to the wearer via a ring of LED lights to point in the required direction. The shoe with the GPS wirelessly communicates with the right shoe that has a progress bar of lights to show how close you are to the destination.” – Dominic Wilcox.