Australian researchers are working on developing shirts that will generate electricity whenever the wearer moves. These shirts would directly power mobile telephones, portable music players and other small electrical appliances. Before you go thinking science fiction, know that $4.4 million was recently awarded by the Australian Defense Department and researchers expect the tech to be available in about five years. So there.
The technology is made possible by piezo electrical materials. According to the article, “Whenever you bend or deform piezo electrical material it creates an electrical charge. If a shirt could be woven from the fabric, the constant vibration would produce electricity as you move.”
The power would be fed into flexible batteries (also woven into the shirt). Researchers imagine the cell phone of the future residing in the collar of a jacket — with flexible circuit boards and speakers galore. Gives new meaning to “ring around the collar”. Ha hah, ugh.
via popgadget
6 Comments
Nice post, Mike. Always very funny and entertaining. What a cool idea! Slim Goodbody could’ve used one of these…
Wonder if it will be enough to power a laptop… then again mobile phones nowadays are getting more and more processing power so the difference is shrinking
sounds like nice idea, but nothing is for free, so to power up more, the “clothes” have to be more rigid, and less power “looser”…so if you want enough power, wear clothes as stiff as bricks…..chance of failure…100%
Great! Turn yourself into a battery charger! Power up your cell phone, and turn your cells into cancerous monsters ready to kill you!
Ha! Those TRON aficionados are gonna be so psyched over this.
What happens when it starts raining and you are a walking electric generator? Besides that the awesomeness factor is very high.