12th Class Indian boy builds shoe that can charge mobile phones while walking

Last month we came across reports about a 15-year old boy who built a 3D printer, and now we have this:  A 12th standard boy has created a shoe that can charge mobile devices as you walk. The boy concerned has been identified as Rajesh Adhikari from Nainital, and his shoe takes complete advantage of the energy generated when a person walks, in order to charge a mobile phone.

According to a report by ANI, the idea of making such as waterproof charger struck Adhikari when it snowed heavily at his home town, leading to a power blackout. He had built the device to ensure that in such times, one could charge phones at least for basic communication. But this also means users will have to walk enough to charge the device. A new good reason for exercise perhaps!

Talking about the shoe-mobile charger, Adhikari told the news agency, “When we raise our feet, the spring gets released and the dynamo starts revolving, which generates current. We can charge our mobile phones while we are walking.”

The charge can be reportedly used to light a bulb as well, in case of electricity failure. One simply needs to install a battery in the shoe for lighting a bulb. Adhikari also plans to add further improvements to the shoe. He is now reportedly working on a design that will make the shoe a wireless phone charger so that the user can charge a mobile phone by simply walking with it in his/her pocket.

Adhikari is not the only Indian low cost tech entrepreneur though.

There is also the story of Angad Daryani – 15- year old dropout-turned-entrepreneur – who is believed to have built India’s first 3D printer using DIY kits and wants to bring 3D printing to every household. Daryani had a keen interest in technology from a very young age and built his first humanoid robot when he was just eight-years-old. He built a remote-controlled hovercraft in Class 6 by watching YouTube videos. By 13, he was building his own versions of the open source RepRap 3D printer.

A class 12 Indian student hailing from Nainital, Rajesh Adhikari, has created a pair of shoes which lets users charge their phone while walking. The charger works on an ingenious spring and dynamo mechanism that powers the device connected to it via a simple cable. But you’ll need to walk for it to be of any use.

Or get someone to walk in your shoes. Each time you lift a foot, the spring on the underside of the shoe stretches and relaxes, and when you apply pressure on the heel while taking a step, the mechanism kicks into play. The energy generated by the setup is also capable of providing enough juice to light up a small room.

Other interesting chargers for your phone:

An Indian-American teenager had won a $50,000 Young Scientist Award at the Intel ISEF 2013 Grand Awards Ceremony last year for working on a technology which would allow people to juice up their mobile devices within 20 seconds. The magic lies in high-performance super capacitors which suck up power in a jiffy and these can be hidden inside the concerned gadget’s battery itself.

The Genneo project on Kickstarter requires users to simply shake the charger, if not move around with it in tow in order to get enough energy to power up their phones. The OnBeat solar headphones, as the name clearly suggests, harnesses the might of the sun and passes it on to your thirsty handset. And then there were those charging shorts, of course.

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