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Walking can boost not only your own energy but also, potentially, the energy of your wearable electronic devices. Osaka Metropolitan University scientists made a significant advance toward self-charging wearable devices with their invention of a dynamic magnifier-enhanced piezoelectric vibration energy harvester that can amplify power generated from impulsive vibrations, such as from human walking, by about 90 times, while remaining as small as currently developed energy harvesters. The results were published in Applied Physics Letters.

These days, people carry multiple electronic devices such as smartphones, and wearable devices are expected to become increasingly widespread in the near future. The resulting demand for more efficient recharging of these devices has increased the attention paid to energy harvesting, a technology that converts energy such as heat and light into electricity that can power small devices. One form of energy harvesting called vibration energy harvesting is deemed highly practical given that it can transform the kinetic energy from vibration into electricity and is not affected by weather or climate.

https://aip.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/5.0116838

I just hope our entire culture will not end up powering somebody's brake lights...

Who else remembers self-winding watches. They had a tiny, weighted ratchet inside that used inertia against your normal movement to keep the spring wound.

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Just like carbon nanotubes, I've been hearing about human powered wearables for decades now. Call me when a device that is useful and affordable goes up for sale.

I'm already creating the floobelyank which will soon make this technology obselete

Remembers? I wear one every day.

That just sounds like slavery with extra steps.

Probably forgot how to take it off.

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Mechanical watches are still very much a thing.

I am sure you have heard of Rolex?

I guess that most people don't realize that the vast majority of nice watches still function in exactly this way. Sorry for upsetting you all by bringing it up.

Tiny? How tiny? I love this type of watch but most of them are so bulky...

The latest high-quality content on /r/science: perpetual motion! You put in a little bit of energy and this special device “amplifies” the power and gives you 90x as much energy back!

Self winding watches are very cool and I love the irony that you need an electrically powered watch winder to keep them going if you don’t wear them daily

Mechanical watches exist across the affordability spectrum. Take a look at Seiko fives for stylish and well engineered mechanicals.

Then I would have had to explain watches even further to people that obviously don't understand them because I couldn't just say "the vast majority".

With those seikos costing a few hundred dollars to start, most people that don't know mechanical watches wind themselves would see them as nice watches.

Mechanical watch sized

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