Innovations in wearable technology is springing up by the day. Scientists have invented a pair of high-tech socks which, when filled with urine, and activated by the wearer’s footsteps, produce enough power to send a message. So when nature calls, so will the socks.
Inventors at the University of the West of England in Bristol claim they could be used in an emergency to transmit a person’s coordinates, showing rescue teams that a person is alive and needing assistance (and, presumably, fresh socks.)
“We wanted the system to be entirely self-sufficient, running only on human power - using urine as fuel and the action of the foot as the pump,” said Professor Ioannis Ieropoulos, who led the research. This work opens up possibilities of using waste for powering portable and wearable electronics.” says Professor Ioannis Ieropoulos, University of the West of England.
The socks are embedded with 24 miniaturised microbial fuel cells (MFC) which are activated by fresh urine. The urine enters the socks through a tube in the heel, from where it is circulated around the cells when the wearer walks around, charging the tiny batteries.
A pair of socks fuelled with urine pumped by the wearer's footsteps which has powered a wireless transmitter to send a signal to a computer. A pair of socks fuelled with urine pumped by the wearer's footsteps which has powered a wireless transmitter to send a signal to a computer.
Normally, such systems would rely on a mains powered pump to circulate the urine over the fuel cells, but he researchers wanted to prove that it could be done through human activity.
The team has previously shown that it is possible to power a mobile phone using similar technology.
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