PediPower: Shoes That Power Your Phone As You Walk?

Credit: ice.edu

Walking or running on a daily basis is a great way to burn calories and get your body fit. Many of us have to do it to get to our work anyway. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could generate energy for electronics as you walk? Rice University students have developed just that. Their PediPower shows turn motion into juice for your portable devices.

These devices are too big to wear at this point. But the idea is quite solid. The prototypes deliver an average of 400 milliwatts, which is more than enough to charge a battery.

A voltage regulator keeps it flowing steadily to the battery […] The PediPower hits the ground before any other part of the prototype shoe. A lever arm strikes first. It is attached to a gearbox that replaces much of the shoe’s sole and turns the gears a little with each step. The gears drive a motor mounted on the outside of the shoe that generates electricity to send up to the battery,

as was explained on rice.edu. The potential for these power-generating shoes is immense. They could be used to power life-saving medical devices in the future. All you have to do is move your body to generate energy for your battery.