Rochus Jacob designed this energy-harvesting rocking chair. It works by storing energy while you rock during the day, then lights up the attached OLED lamp at night. It is a neat concept, however there is no reason to wait for future technologies to build one. Just start with this human-powered fan design, add a small generator and a standard LED, grab your whittling project, and you should be set to go. [via gizmodo]
Posted by: Matt Mets on October 16, 2009 at 10:19 PM
I think the tricky part is picking a light source and a generator. I presume that the light should be chosen first, and the generator designed to meet that? I suspect that there won't be a ton of energy available before the chair becomes uncomfortable to rock.
Posted by: fubarator on October 16, 2009 at 4:33 PM
It's a stylish chair with lamp attached + high-tech wordage about nano-dynamos. The idea people have done their work. It IS a neat concept but the nerds shall take it from here. Nerds, whatever you do, please keep it from squeaking--that would ruin all the style.
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Do any real nerds want to calculate the hours of rocking to minutes of reading ratio?
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I think the tricky part is picking a light source and a generator. I presume that the light should be chosen first, and the generator designed to meet that? I suspect that there won't be a ton of energy available before the chair becomes uncomfortable to rock.
Reply to this comment
It's a stylish chair with lamp attached + high-tech wordage about nano-dynamos. The idea people have done their work. It IS a neat concept but the nerds shall take it from here. Nerds, whatever you do, please keep it from squeaking--that would ruin all the style.
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Hehehe, would it be ok if the chair was used to generate energy, which would then be used to play back a squeaking sound over some speakers?
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