A soccer ball Barack Obama kicked in Tanzania wasn’t just any soccer ball.
It had power. Literally.
The Soccket may look like a soccer ball, but it’s really an energy source. Kick it around for 30 minutes, and thanks to some internal mechanisms, the kinetic energy is converted to about three hours’ worth of electricity – enough to charge a basic cell phone. A full charge, 72 hours, can be had for 16 hours of play.
The idea: Bring electricity and light to parts of the world that are power-poor and often make do with toxic, fume-producing kerosene lamps.
The ball is the flagship product of Uncharted Play, a company founded by two Harvard students, Jessica O. Matthews and Julia Silverman, in 2008.
The two were part of an engineering class for non-engineers. The class assignment: Come up with a playful idea that could help tackle an issue in the developing world. Matthews, whose family is from Nigeria, knew about power problems in sub-Saharan Africa, where less than 25% of the population has access to reliable electricity. With that in mind, the pair and their classmates came up with the Soccket concept.
It’s been through a variety of iterations. The first ball was a Nerf-like hamster ball. Then it became a soccer ball – a nod to the world’s most popular sport, readily played almost everywhere – but an inflatable version proved unworkable. The latest version is just two ounces heavier than a standard soccer ball, though Uncharted Play is still working on making it as bouncy. (Obama did manage to give it a header.)
The company has tested the balls in the U.S., Mexico, Brazil and parts of Africa and conducted a successful Kickstarter campaign earlier this year. (Among its fans: Bill Gates and Ashton Kutcher.) It’s now taking online orders through its website.
Matthews has said there are hopes of expanding to other sports, such as basketball. People across the globe may soon find themselves powering their homes by doing something as delightful and simple as playing a game.
Ain’t that a kick?
Source: www.cnn.com
It had power. Literally.
The Soccket may look like a soccer ball, but it’s really an energy source. Kick it around for 30 minutes, and thanks to some internal mechanisms, the kinetic energy is converted to about three hours’ worth of electricity – enough to charge a basic cell phone. A full charge, 72 hours, can be had for 16 hours of play.
The idea: Bring electricity and light to parts of the world that are power-poor and often make do with toxic, fume-producing kerosene lamps.
The ball is the flagship product of Uncharted Play, a company founded by two Harvard students, Jessica O. Matthews and Julia Silverman, in 2008.
The two were part of an engineering class for non-engineers. The class assignment: Come up with a playful idea that could help tackle an issue in the developing world. Matthews, whose family is from Nigeria, knew about power problems in sub-Saharan Africa, where less than 25% of the population has access to reliable electricity. With that in mind, the pair and their classmates came up with the Soccket concept.
It’s been through a variety of iterations. The first ball was a Nerf-like hamster ball. Then it became a soccer ball – a nod to the world’s most popular sport, readily played almost everywhere – but an inflatable version proved unworkable. The latest version is just two ounces heavier than a standard soccer ball, though Uncharted Play is still working on making it as bouncy. (Obama did manage to give it a header.)
The company has tested the balls in the U.S., Mexico, Brazil and parts of Africa and conducted a successful Kickstarter campaign earlier this year. (Among its fans: Bill Gates and Ashton Kutcher.) It’s now taking online orders through its website.
Matthews has said there are hopes of expanding to other sports, such as basketball. People across the globe may soon find themselves powering their homes by doing something as delightful and simple as playing a game.
Ain’t that a kick?
Source: www.cnn.com
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