GroundWaves | Haptic sneakers you can feel

Step into the action.

The GroundWaves haptic sneaker, 3D-printed with a lattice midsole and a removable battery at the heel

GroundWaves haptic sneakers turn the sound of your music, games and films into vibration you feel through your feet, in sync with what you hear. Launching soon.

Join the waitlist

Turn your sound up, then press play.

Recognised by

Elektra AwardsFuturist Award, 2024
Creative Industries CouncilCreaTech Ones to Watch, 2021
GITEX Future StarsUK fashion-tech, Dubai 2021
Digital CatapultFutureScope with Arrow, 2022
MyWorldChallenge award with Nvidia, 2023
Innovate UKCreative Catalyst, 2023

“Wow! People are going to love this experience for listening to music”

Dame Evelyn Glennie, percussionist

A percussionist who performs barefoot to feel the sound, on trying GroundWaves.

In making music portable, we lost the feeling of live sound. GroundWaves brings it back, wherever you are.

A GroundWaves sneaker sending ripples out across the ground

Music

The kick, the drop and the bass line. Bring the feeling of a live gig to every playlist.

Games and film

Every scene and every battle lands with weight, so the screen stops being the edge of the action.

Training

Put the science of vibration to work for your performance and recovery.

Meditation

Sound becomes sensation, taking you out of your head and into your body.

Access

Live music, felt whatever your hearing, opening live sound to d/Deaf and hard-of-hearing audiences.

Engineered at the limit of physics.

At the heart of every pair is our patented voice-coil actuator. Its power density lets a unit small enough to fit in a sneaker deliver ultra-low-frequency vibration you can feel, deeper than you can experience from a subwoofer.

Every actuator on the market trades these four off against each other.

Bandwidth
Responsiveness
Power density
Life-span

Ours makes three structural changes, and the limits come off.

Concentric-drive coilsMore control of the moving magnet, for higher responsiveness and efficiency.
One moving partSimplicity at its best, so life-span and durability are inherent.
Magnetic suspensionNo spring fatigue, so the actuator has a long life-span and is not prone to mechanical shock.

Exploded render of a GroundWaves sneaker: topline, exoskeleton with lattice, removable battery, customisable outer, actuator housing with the sealed voice-coil actuator, and lattice midsole, with an enlarged detail of the actuator — Fig. 1. Exploded view of a GroundWaves 3D-printed sneaker.

10: Topline
20: ExoskeletonStructure which holds the outer around the lattice.
30: Removable batterySwaps out at the heel.
40: OuterCustomisable. Shown here with a tactile fingerprint design.
50: Housing cap
60: Voice-coil actuatorOur patented design, with a recycled-magnet core. Shown enlarged in the detail.
70: Actuator housing
80: Lattice midsole3D-printed in geometries no other process can make, shaped to carry vibration to your foot.

What you can hear20 Hz – 20 kHz

What you can feel5 – 600 Hz

GroundWaves actuator5 – 600 Hz

From a haptic seat to a sneaker.

GroundWaves has always pushed the boundaries of how we feel sound.

SubStrike, the full-body haptic seat, on a white background

Inside the 2018 proof of concept: an insole with two actuators and an amplifier board

The GroundWaves MVP sneakers being worn, glowing green at the heel

Nick Inoue pitching GroundWaves to a judging panel at SelectUSA

Ben Hurdle, Dame Evelyn Glennie and Nick Inoue holding the GroundWaves shoes

2017 SubStrike, our full-body haptic seat.

2008–2012
The eureka moment, and the start of our HD haptic actuator.
2016
Patent application for the world's first complete haptic system with vibration feedback.
2017
Public launch of SubStrike, our full-body haptic seat. Dame Evelyn Glennie tries it.
2018
Nick builds the first proof-of-concept sneaker: a modified Air Force 1 with a custom actuator. Chris Newman-Smart joins him as co-founder of GroundWaves.
2019
Patent application for a novel HD haptic actuator.
2020
The GroundWaves haptic sneaker video launches to the world.
2021
Named a CreaTech One to Watch by the Creative Industries Council, then represented UK fashion-tech as a GITEX Future Star in Dubai.
2022
Selected for Digital Catapult's FutureScope programme with Arrow Electronics.
2023
The world's first 3D-printed haptic sneaker: our first MVP, developed in partnership with MoonRabbit Adaptive Lab and Francisco Bernal, and printed in partnership with Carbon Inc. The same year brings a MyWorld challenge award with Nvidia to develop our patented haptic calibration system, and an Innovate UK Creative Catalyst grant to develop our actuator, benchmark it against competitors and run a footwear user study.
2024
Invited by the U.S. Embassy in London to pitch at SelectUSA, in the open tech category. Our MVP launches at Innovate UK's Climb24. Winner of the Elektra Awards Futurist Award.
2025
Invited by the Department for Business and Trade on a trade mission to SelectUSA and San Francisco. At SelectUSA, the shoes are tried by a senior U.S. government official.
2026
Dame Evelyn Glennie tries the haptic shoes she inspired.
Next
Launch. Join the waitlist to be among the first to feel it.

Sustainable in every step.

Recycled magnets

The neodymium at the core of every actuator comes from recycled magnets, rather than being newly mined. We've been working with HyProMag, whose recycling process has a 98% lower toxic legacy than making magnets from newly mined material.

Made to order

Sustainable 3D printing means each pair is made on demand. No overproduction, no dead stock, no waste.

Built to be repaired

A modular build means a part that wears out can be taken apart and renewed, instead of the whole sneaker going in the bin.

Our actuator, in your product.

The haptic actuator sits inside phones, game controllers, seats and wearables, and it is fundamentally unchanged. Our patented actuator is a new configuration that delivers unmatched haptic fidelity. The design scales up or down to suit your size requirements, so the same core can go into footwear, audio, gaming and beyond.

Talk to us about licensing

Technology licensing: Per-unit licences to our patented actuator and haptic system designs.
Components: GroundWaves actuators, supplied ready to build into your hardware.
Engineering services: Development kits and engineering support to tune haptics for your product.

Dr Nick Inoue

Founder and Chief Executive

“It has been my personal mission, and my passion, to bring you the best experience of sound possible.”

Since his eureka moment in 2008, Nick has spent eighteen years making sound something you feel as well as hear. He invented the SubStrike full-body haptic seat, and the patented actuator inside every pair of GroundWaves. He holds a BEng in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Cardiff University, and a PhD in laser fusion energy target production from Cardiff in partnership with the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory.

Connect with Nick on LinkedIn

Mentors

Bernard JamesMentor and project management
Ben HurdleMentor

Be the first to feel it.

Join the waitlist and we'll tell you the moment GroundWaves launches.

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