Sarojini Mahajan, a 15 year-old schoolgirl in New Delhi, has come up with the idea of using the non-stop power of the beating of the human heart and turning it into an electric current powerful enough to re-charge a mobile phone. Now scientists at Stanford University in the US are developing a prototype. Sarojini got the idea from the “self-winding” and so-called “kinetic” wrist watches that are widely advertised in India and other parts of the world. She thought,
If we can have watches that run on the power generated by the human pulse, then why not have a mobile phone charger working on the same principles?
The teenager discussed this idea with her science teacher and he forwarded it to India’s National Innovation Foundation (NIF). She won a “Consolation Prize” from NIF and this announcement in the Foundation’s website was then spotted by the CTO at Stanford University, Paul Kim. He and other researchers are now developing a prototype of a phone charger that could have enormous potential in those nations and emerging economies where the electricity supply is scarce, erratic and expensive.
Full marks to Sarojini Mahajan for her ingenuity and plaudits to both the NIF of India and Stanford University for progressing the idea. The Stanford Daily reports.
1 Comment
Jack Point
I was about to say the idea was absurd until I read it a little more carefully.
Yes, using the pulse to power a mobile phone is a pretty good idea.