MIT Presents Powered SOFT Rockers to Charge Your Gadgets

by Amanda Smith
from http://3rings.designerpages.com/

SOFT Rocker. Designed by MIT Architecture students.

The concept of people creating power with motion was introduced to me by my spinning studio. It makes complete sense to capture the energy of a room full of people pedaling away like mad men for an hour and use that energy to power the guy taking a stroll on the treadmill. Simple motions are the basis of energy sources like windmills and water wheels, so why not turn human behaviors into energy sources? A group of architecture students at MIT sees the casual act of rocking as the perfect way to charge small electronics.

MIT professor Sheila Kennedy and a group of MIT architecture students developed the SOFT Rocker, which is a rocking chair/lounge chair for the great outdoors. The SOFT Rocker uses the human power of balance to create an interactive 1.5 axis, 35 watt solar tracking system. During daylight hours, the lounger captures solar power in a 12-ampere hour battery.

For maximum power absorption, the curved, solar-panel-covered seats rotate on an axis to keep them facing the sun. Additional energy is generated from the rocking motion created when people climb inside. All the energy that is harvested can be used to recharge gadgets plugged into the three USB ports and to illuminate a light strip on the inside of the loop.

The SOFT Rockers were created for the Festival of Art+Science+Technology (FAST) as an antidote to “conventional ‘hard’ urban infrastructure.

About: MIT is a prestigious Boston based university that reputation for its technology and engineering programs. The School of Architecture and Planning has gotten press in recent years for the construction of the Media Lab, designed by Pritzker Prize-winning Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki. Professor Sheila Kennedy is an expert in the integration of solar cell technology in architecture, changing the way buildings receive and distribute energy.

New battery can recharge itself using sunlight

By Tuan C. Nguyen
From http://www.smartplanet.com/

 

A team of scientists are hoping to give those old school re-chargeable batteries a solar-powered makeover.
Mention solar technology to people and for many it still brings to mind big clunky panels housed at sprawling industrial facilities. But recent advances in solar cells has already allowed the technology to be miniaturized and integrated into a variety of everyday household products. Last year, the Japanese company Sanyo was honored with an IF Design award at the CeBIT technology conference for a developing a dual solar-powered light and USB charger. Now comes a battery prototype that can be recharged simply by being left out in the sun.
The researchers are calling their concept the Light Catcher, which is basically a photoelectronic battery comprised of tiny anti-reflective solar cells that soak up energy from the sun. A transparent encasing protects the battery while allowing sunlight to shine through. The batteries come in AA and AAA sizes and can be inserted into most portable electronics, anything from remote controls to toys. There’s also the option to power electronics using a 3.5mm jack.


The innovators behind the “Light Catcher” concept are Yung-Hsaing Chang, Ming-Shien Lin and Chang-Ting Lu. The team developed the batteries as an entry into this year’s iF Design awards, given out each year by the Hanover-based firm iF International Forum Design.

While miniaturized solar technology is still a ways from meeting the rigorous energy demands of many portable electronics like laptops and Smartphones, such advances are still quite promising. The amount of energy that can be tapped from sunlight is enormous considering that the current technology converts only a small percentage into use-able electricity.
Photo: Yanko Design

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