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Comment by mrfusion | Hacker News Reader

Say, why can’t we recreate this with ultrasound?

Actually that seems like a good idea. Should I patent it?

Would require taking your shoes and socks off, smothering them in sonic gel, and having someone who knows how operate the wand.

some people would pay to work a job like that

I’m not sure about that. I’d imagine for a general outline of the foot with little need for detail it might be fine.

I think you could build a 3d model with photogrammetry. There's not that much soft tissue and it's not like you're going to ignore it, anyway. Retool the manufacturing so custom shoes roll off the line with modern materials and design.

I'd pay a premium for hiking boots custom made for my feet, and I bet a lot of other people would, too. Or any athletic footwear. People are already paying whatever they can afford.

Of course you can get custom hiking boots handmade, but when I looked into it, the materials and design were ancient and the resulting boots were ridiculously heavy.

This is already a thing: my usual running shoe store went out of business because of Covid, and the new one I went to has a machine that scans your feet and builds a 3D model. Like flouroscopy, I suspect it's mostly a gimmick: the shoes I ended up getting there are fine but don't seem to be appreciably better than the ones I would get at the store which measured my feet the old-fashioned way.

My feet are pretty nonstandard. It's hard to find footwear that actually fits well, especially heavier mountaineering and hiking boots. This is something I've been wanting for a long time.

Now you can't, because someone will use your post to invalidate it as prior art!

Oops

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