Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

DARPA To Turn Humans Into Batteries

Posted by samzenpus on from the electric-personality dept.

DARPA is working on a project that will convert energy from the human body to power a variety of military gadgets. From the article: "Obviously, our bodies generate heat — thermal energy. They also produce vibrations when we move — kinetic energy. Both forms of energy can be converted into electricity. Anantha Chandrakasan, an MIT electrical engineering professor, who is working on the problem with a former student named Yogesh Ramadass, says the challenge is to harvest adequate amounts of power from the body and then efficiently direct it to the device that needs it." If I remember the movie correctly, this didn't turn out so well for the humans.

5 of 183 comments (clear)

  1. Question by xednieht · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why is mankind so obsessed with harvesting energy from the rarest sources in the universe? Why not start with the most abundant sources?

    --

    Hope is the currency of fools
    1. Re:Question by Ukab+the+Great · · Score: 5, Funny

      Because doing that would make farting both a socially acceptable behavior and a viable industry.

  2. I'm Not Fat! by eldavojohn · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm a D Cell battery!

    --
    My work here is dung.
  3. average human is 75-watt light bulb by peter303 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Auditorium A/C designers know that - about one watt per kilogram resting, triple that when aerobic. Many portable electronics devices can run off a few percent of that energy. It would be nice to capture that energy mechanically, thermally, or chemically.

  4. Re:No AI yet. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Al Gore or AI Gore?

    Dammit, I need serifs!!! At least we don't have to worry about A1 Gore.