Sweat stomper: technology news.

Tired of clammy feet stuck inside stinky, sweaty shoes? Check out the "Breathing Foot." Manufacturers are using this robotic heat machine to design more comfortable shoes.

During exercise, the average person's feet can produce enough sweat to fill two 12-ounce soda cans a day, according to Peter Laight, a developer of the Breathing Foot at Pittards Leather Co. in England. Sweat is one of our bodies' best ways of keeping cool. It drains heat away from the body and cools us off as it evaporates.

But shoes and socks absorb sweat, and keep it from evaporating. Also, soggy socks and hot swollen feet inside tight-fitting shoes feel gross, and are a sure recipe for blisters -- water filled bubbles in the skin created by friction.

The Breathing Foot helps shoe designers take sweating and swelling into account to create shoes that fit better. The Foot has a temperature control system that simulates all the conditions a human foot might endure -- from snow storms to heat waves. It can test shoe performance in situations ranging from Arctic mountain climbing to a desert stroll.

Each of four sweat zones in the computer-controlled Foot has a "sweat" pump that squirts out water, like human sweat glands would, as the Foot exerts itself and heats up. The Foot can pump out up to 99 milliliters of "sweat" per hour -- over a quarter of a soda can's worth. A thin covering of neoprene "skin" on the contraption allows sweat-like beads to form on the Foot's surface, just like they would on a living foot.

With this new technology, shoe designers can choose materials that breathe, leaving feet and socks dry, comfortable and blister-free.