Imagine if your every movement generated power. Every step you took, every move you made could create electricity.
You could be the source of light. You could charge your phone with your own movement.
Jessica O. Matthews is making this futuristic vision a reality. She spoke about how it could happen at Refinery29's School of Self Expression at SXSW on March 13.
In 2008, she invented the Soccket, a soccer ball that can generate energy. Kicking the current model around for just 30 minutes gives you three hours of electricity via an LED lamp you can plug right into the ball.
Matthews has since founded the company Uncharted Play, which filed 12 patents for new inventions that can put what they call "motion-based, off-grid renewable energy (M.O.R.E.) into everything that moves."
Here she is at the talk demonstrating the company's latest invention, the Pulse jump rope:
After she plugged in that lamp, the entire crowd went, "Wow." And that's just the beginning.
"We believe the future of power is not just going to be self-generated ... taking advantage of how we can create renewable power from our motion," Matthews said at the talk, "but it's also going to be wireless."
Matthews said she thinks this wireless power could be streaming from these motion-powered objects in the next five to 10 years.
The picture she paints is incredible:
"Imagine a world where if we integrate our technology into everything, and we actually have this power wirelessly transmitted to power anything you need in a room or in an area without any wires," she said at the talk. "You can just set the default system on your phone in your house, for example. Let's say we have microgenerators integrated into your floor panels, door hinges, your couch — just from sitting up and down — even clothing."
This technology is in its early stages, so more research and testing is required. But Matthews' vision is inspiring.
Endless power is all around us. We just have to start capturing it.
Watch Matthews' entire talk from Refinery29:
