- Author: admin
- Filed under: General
- Date: May 6,2011
Wander through MIT’s Killian Court and you’ll spot something distinctly modern nestled amongst its classical buildings — a set of solar-powered lounge chairs called SOFT Rockers.
These curved, solar-panel-covered seats rotate on an axis to keep them facing the sun, generating additional energy from the rocking motion created when people climb inside.
All that harvested electricity 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 teardrop-shaped charging stations were created by professor Sheila Kennedy and a team of students for the Festival of Art+Science+Technology (FAST) as an antidote to “conventional ‘hard’ urban infrastructure.”
Plus, they seem like a great place to charge your phone while evading Dean Wormer and riding out double secret probation. Check out the gallery below for more images.
- Author: admin
- Filed under: General
- Date: Feb 26,2011
This as-of-yet-unnamed mini computer was fashioned as an implantable eye pressure monitor for glaucoma patients, but its creators envision a future where we’re all crawling with the little buggers.
Taking up just over one cubic millimeter of space, the thing stuffs a pressure sensor, memory, thin-film battery, solar cell, wireless radio, and low-power microprocessor all into one very small translucent container.
The processor behind this little guy uses an “extreme” sleep mode to keep it napping at 15-minute intervals and sucking up 5.3 nanowatts while awake, and its battery runs off 10 hours of indoor light or one and a half hours of sun beams.
Using the sensor to measure eye pressure and the radio to communicate with an external reader, the system will continuously track the progress of glaucoma, without those pesky contacts. Read the rest of this entry »
For countless cultures throughout history, the sun was an integral part of their daily lives and they recognized its influence over all things.
Perhaps we can take some time to reflect on that star that graces our solar system, and creatively tap into its potential using new and fun technologies.
Take a look at our list of 19 Cool and Unusual Solar Gadgets. Read the rest of this entry »
