Battery-free wearables of the future could run off your footsteps
Battery-free wearables of the future could run off your
footsteps
An energy-harvesting insole would use your own body
movements to provide power for your devices.
by Katie Collins March 18, 2016 9:34 AM PDT
All that walking you're doing to meet your daily
step-count goal could soon start paying off -- and not necessarily in the way
you expect.
Yes, it will it make you healthier, but it could power
your activity tracker, too, thanks to an insole that sits inside your shoe and
harvests energy from your footsteps.
Researchers at the University of Southampton, England,
have designed the removable insole to collect the kinetic energy generated by
the movement of your body and the pressure of your feet hitting the ground.
This kinetic energy is then transformed into electrical energy that can be used
to power small devices.
"The most realistic application is to extend the
battery hours, but the ultimate goal of our research is to make wearable
devices battery-free," said electronics and computer science researcher
Jerry Luo, speaking at the Wearable Technology Show in London on Wednesday.
Feeble battery life often tops the list of people's
complaints about their various smart devices. Batteries are also space hogs,
and when companies like Apple and Fitbit design wearables, there's always a
trade-off between battery life and device size. There's the inconvenience
factor too -- the charging process, however quick, is a pain. Your footsteps
are never going to keep your household lights on, but they might be a lifeline
for the smaller gadgets that are increasingly appearing in everyone's lives.
It will primarily be up to those making wearable gadgets
and smart clothing to figure out how best to put the insole to use, but the
researchers have come up with a few ideas of their own, including
identification, indoor tracking and activity measurement.
Other ventures are also looking into what might be called
smart shoes. Samsung Creative Labs spinoff Iofit, for instance, has created
footwear that uses pressure sensors paired with an app to show you information
about your stance and golf swing.
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