Last week, Google's Advanced Technology and Projects unit teased a collaboration centered around its Project Jacquard smart clothing tag featuring sportsgear brand Adidas and video game publisher Electronic Arts. Well, the teasing's over now and what we've got are a new pair of insoles that are meant to get you (or your kids) playing real soccer while also acing virtual soccer in EA Sports FIFA Mobile. Adidas calls it GMR.
The complete package includes an Adidas-branded Project Jacquard tag with an accelerometer, gyroscope, and microprocessor embedded within. The tag slots into either of the complementary insoles that can be sized from a U.S. 4 to 13.5. Those insoles can then be placed into any pair of cleats. It's recommended that the tag gets sided with the user's dominant foot.
The Adidas GMR is officially available to buy from the shoe company's website today in the U.S. for $40 as well as in 24 other countries — Australia, Canada, Ireland, and the U.K. to name a few. Select retailers will have it as well.
Adidas advises that the tag is best suited to track soccer activities such as running, sprinting, and kicking. Statistics like shot speed and total run distance are recorded and synced up with the Adidas GMR and EA Sports FIFA Mobile apps. The effort put into real soccer will help users complete weekly in-game challenges and ascend in overall team ranking.
The perpendicular nature of what the GMR tag incentivizes — video gaming and physical exercise — definitely ends up being a net gain for Adidas, Electronic Arts, and Google in one way or another. It's left to you to determine if you'll get what you want out of this product based on the goals you want to achieve for yourself or your kids.
Below are the apps you'll need for your Android device on version 6.0 Marshmallow or later. If you happen to be on the iOS side of things (12.1 or up), here's the link for FIFA Soccer and here's the link for the Adidas GMR app.
Buy: Adidas