Hawkes Lab — UC Santa Barbara
World's Fastest
Running Shoe
Variable-stiffness midsole pods designed to outperform conventional foam on energy return and metabolic cost.
Overview
Replaceing foam.
Developing air based soles to replace conventional foam, optimizing for peak performance athletes. Dyneema and TPU based architectures tested for tensile strength, hysteresis, and cyclic fatigue.
Drop Testing
The rig to run the test.
Rig schematic
Physical apparatus
Custom drop-test rig measuring impact dynamics, energy return, and material deformation under repeatable conditions.
Results
Force vs. displacement.
Placement configuration
Prototype vs. foam baseline
On-Body Testing
Putting it on a runner.
Metabolic cost measured via TCCT protocol. VO2 as a direct proxy for energy efficiency across shoe conditions.
Testing apparatus
VO2 TCCT — 6 mph