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New Twist on Power Walking
An anonymous reader writes "Carrying a newly designed backpack loaded with between 44 and 84 pounds of gear, users generate enough electricity to simultaneously power an MP3 player, a PDA, night vision goggles, a handheld GPS, a CMOS image decoder, a GSM terminal in talk mode, and Bluetooth."
- You're a gargoyle.
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A walking target for muggers. Or if you went on the London Underground with it, increase your likelihood of being shot by the Met Police exponentially
Not only generating power but instantly increasing your popularity with the fairer sex.
The incredible accuracy of this list of items that the backpack can power quite astounds me.
"Sorry sir, if you want to play WMAs you'll need the extended BackpackWindows version."
"Sorry sir, USB2.0 is not supported. Have you considered using BlueTooth?"
"Sorry sir, federal law requires you to wear night vision goggles while carrying this backpack. Yes, sir, I'm aware it's high noon. Regulations."
"Sorry sir, but is that GSM terminal in talk mode? It is? OK, just checking... some tourists think they can use stand-by mode."
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Sounds a lot like the energy differential shown by hopping kangaroos. Their energy consumption is remarkably low given the velocities they generate and it seems to be the result of energy stored in their lower leg tendons. In other words they are using the same benefits to get a large increase in overall energy output with a marginal increase in metabolic consumption.
"The first thing to do when you find yourself in a hole is stop digging."
Great! Now I can assasinate people while listening to the Kill Bill soundtrack!
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
...carrying all that gear means that the calls you do make on the GSM device in talk mode sound like heavy breathing pervert-o-calls, and you'll get busted for harrassment :)
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While at the moment this is spawning a handful of standard amusing slashdot responses, you miss a more useful application - that of field operatives. And you can take 'field operatives' to mean soldiers and the like - being able to use all kinds of equipment that would normally require more power than is available should improve things, although bear in mind they already carry heavy packs so it wouldn't be one per person. The other kind is the more normal field operative - anyone who goes exploring/researching/hiking/prospecting... if you don't have to carry samples back to base camp for analysis, or can power *anything* enabling, then you're ddoing well with one of these. Remember that most people don't need the long list of things mentioned in the post; but for enabling people who are away from home, this looks like it could be really handy.
Browsing with +2 to insightful posts and a higher threshold makes the average post seen seem a lot more ingenious
I think that bringing 30 kg in replacement batteries should last me the entire vacation!
Maybe next they can reduce the need to carry water by recycling urine!
Here's a picture http://www.heise.de/bilder/63699/0/1 . The aparatus just takes a small part of the weight. However, you have to put something in your backpack, whatever it is, to generate power.
self-winding watches have been around for many years to store energy in springs to power a watch, and Seiko and other companies have watches which store electricy in ultra-capacitors.
why a backpack?
why not use wrist- or ankle-mounted generators, which get a lot more movement, so presumably the generator could be a lot smaller and lighter?
What are the chances your average /. user can even heft said backpack?
(images of futuristic schoolyard-bully style backpack swiping ensue)
Well, my mod points expired, so I'll have to just agree with you.
US Army's been developing computers for infantry for the last few years (I forget the code name, but it was typical Pentagon two parts macho two parts silly one part corny) and the stuff I read/saw said that the limiting factor was battery life. Rechargables are HEAVY. Tack that onto a 90kg pack that he's carrying anyway, and range gets shorter as your soldiers carry more If a grunt can power his laptop, field radio, GPS, and other electronics on the battlefield by walking and carrying the stuff he has to take anyway, and have that power generation help HIM to walk more efficiently, he can effectively power his gadgets for free AND get extended range by using less energy to walk/run. I can't see any way Defense ISN'T gonna be all over this like white on rice.
I've been somewhat involved in Geocaching, and one of the biggest complaints of cachers is running out of batteries for their GPS. One of the most popular trade items is spare AA batteries. If they can make this affordable to the consumer, and you can carry your water, trades, poncho, and whatever else you need for a day in the woods and power your Garmin or Magellan on the strength of that, that's huge.
Then there's the college kids with their newfangled eye-pods, high schoolers with cells, grade schoolers with game boys. They all carry a bunch of books everywhere they go. My high school backpack was 30-40lbs. That's a cell or PDA no prob. Retrofit a briefcase for Joe Yuppie to carry his paperwork and recharge his blackberry or laptop at the same time. Less time tied to an outlet, more time being on the road and productive (or so he'd have you believe). Get a small rig, put your mp3 player in it, strap it to your waist and go jogging. Kiss your low-battery warning goodbye. Make a tiny version and build it into a digital wristwatch, never change your battery again.
How are these people NOT going to be writing their own check?
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