I have lashed out lots of cash, historically, on various bits of kit to make the vibram soles on my boots less gripless.
These faux crampons either snap off on tarmac surfaces or simply fail to cope with leaves and mud on the same trip.
Today’s invention is therefore variable shoe spikes.
A small array of cams is fitted to the inside of one’s heel, as shown.
By pulling the orange handle, the cam blades rotate to allow the wearer to set the degree of bite required (from snowdrift to parquet floor).
Naturally I’d like a set with a motor and remote control.
They could also be fitted to the toe end of one’s boots, of course.
Perhaps if one of the cams was made from something supersticky then under a slip condition it would grip and cause the axle to turn deploying the other cams. Alternatively an optical mouse chip could be used to detect slip
I do like the idea of having the cam angle determined automatically by the degree of slip. A cellphone accelerometer would be sensitive enough to do the detecting, I reckon.