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"When you step in, your heel will hit a sensor and the system will automatically tighten,” explained Tiffany Beers, the project’s technical lead. Nike actually refers to the technology as "adaptive lacing" rather than "self lacing" because there are two buttons on the side of the shoe that allow you to tweak how loose or tight the laces are. In the theory, the laces will then be held in that position, preventing your laces from coming undone while running, slam dunking, or otherwise exerting yourself.

Nike originally announced in October 2015 that it would sell some Back to the Future-esque Nike Mags in spring 2016. Sadly, except for a part of the sole that emits a turquoise light, these HyperAdapt shoes don't look much like Marty McFly's Nike Mags.

In the video above you can see Jacques Slade, who reviews and unboxes shoes on YouTube, playing around with a black pair of HyperAdapts. Perhaps the most notable thing about them is just how loud the self-lacing mechanism is; you can really hear that high-torque motor grinding away.

Slade confirms in the video that Nike hasn't yet revealed how the shoes work, from a technical point of view. Nike's automatic lacing system patent from 2009 is probably still the best starting point:

[The US patent] teaches an automated tightening shoe. The tightening mechanism of [US patent #6,691,433] includes a first fastener mounted on the upper, and a second fastener connected to the closure member and capable of removable engagement with the first fastener so as to retain releasably the closure member at a tightened state. [The patent teaches] a drive unit mounted in the heel portion of the sole. The drive unit includes a housing, a spool rotatably mounted in the housing, a pair of pull strings and a motor unit. Each string has a first end connected to the spool and a second end corresponding to a string hole in the second fastener. The motor unit is coupled to the spool. [The patent] teaches that the motor unit is operable so as to drive rotation of the spool in the housing to wind the pull strings on the spool for pulling the second fastener towards the first fastener. [The patent] also teaches a guide tube unit that the pull strings can extend through.

Slade also comments on the sole of the HyperAdapt, noting that it probably uses Cushlon cushioning rather than Lunarlon.

Presumably the lacing mechanism is battery-powered, but there's no word on how long the battery might last or how you might recharge it.

The HyperAdapt 1.0 will be available to a "small" number of Nike+ app users from November 28 this year, and then from two Nike retail locations in NYC from December 1. There will be three colour variations (white, grey, black). Pricing has been confirmed at $720, or about £580 (but they won't go on sale in the UK).

This story was updated with additional information about the HyperAdapt release date, retail locations, and pricing.