Behold: Socks That Can Teach You How to Waltz (No, Seriously)

March 9, 2017

Always wanted to learn some ballroom dance basics, but never had the time? Pull on a pair of these interactive socks, which can teach you how to foxtrot or waltz in a matter of minutes via a series of vibrating motors.

This is not a joke! This is real life, guys!

Designers Pascal Ziegler and Maike Maas, Master’s students at Saarland University in Germany, created the wacky but kind of amazing wearables to help wannabe dancers learn without assistance from instructors. And if you’re technologically inclined, you can make a pair yourself: There’s an Instructable to guide you through the process. (Just grab one of the soldering plates you definitely have lying around the house.)

So, how do these magic socks work? In the designers’ own words:

“We equipped the socks with pressure sensors and vibration motors to monitor and guide the feet movement of the pair dancers. These are controlled by a master application running on an Android phone. The steps are indicated by vibration signals at specific positions of the foot, at the heel for a forward step, etc. When a user makes a mistake or gets out of sync, negative feedback is provided. It is possible to dance in the socks for several minutes without making a mistake.”

Welcome to life in 2017, friends. Grab your FSR sensors and ceramic capacitors and get dancing!