Indonesia
Your Step Can Recharges Your Battery
Perhaps there’s no troublesome like running out of cell phone battery when there’s nowhere to charge it. Lucky for us, there’s a new power source introduced by Angelo Casimiro in 2014 Google Science Fair. This global online competition was followed by participants of 13-18 years old worldwide. Even though he didn’t win, Angelo’s invention drew quite some attention to it. He made a device that can charge battery with footsteps. So, all we need is take a walk and -voila!- the low bat cell phone is recharging.
“The average human takes 7,000 steps a day. So I asked myself, maybe it’s possible to harvest electricity through our footsteps. Maybe I can charge my phone or my flashlight with it,” said Angelo in his footage. This breakthrough was triggered by the poverty of his neighborhood. “I’m a Filipino. I live in the Philippines. And just by looking around my surroundings, I can see that a lot of people are suffering from poverty. A simple source of light is a big deal for people who don’t have electricity,” he explains.
The electricity generated in the shoe by a mini generator of 26 volt, made by two electric piezo-electric. The power will emerge when the shoe wearer walks. Then it will be transferred and stored in a power bank. The power can be used to charge our devices. Simple, isn’t it, Superkids? This environmental friendly power is not produced from solar, water or wind energy, rather our own two feet (detail can be seen here)
It’s true that Angelo’s foot powered charger is still unable to fully recharge a cell phone battery. Even after playing basket for two hours straight (which includes running, walking and jumping), the harnessed power can give life to cell phone for only 10 minutes. According to Angelo, his charger can recharge a 400 mAh Lithium-ion battery after an eight hours straight walk.
Actually, Angelo’s shoes are not the first device with the concept of footwear battery charger. SolePower company has been developing the similar device since 2013. Angelo also admitted, in the prototype he is making now, his invention might not be able to solve the world energy crisis. But he envisions how the device will have impact for plane Earth, one decade ahead.
Angelo is still a scholar, not a student of a college. Yet his affection towards technology is big from the start. He claims to have been making projects since four years old. At this rate, Angelo is ready to compete in annual International Robotics Olympiad in Beijing, December 2014 on behalf of his country.
HAFIDA INDRWATI
PHOTOS: YOUTUBE
