Obivous application
Putting LEDs in shoes. Never put a foot wrong in the dark again. Or football boots, putting the flash into those flashy moves.
Research published by the University of Wisconsin describes a way of generating sufficient electrical energy from human movement to power mobile gadgets. Tapping into the kinetic energy inherent in, say, walking up the street and converting it into electrical energy is nothing new, but the Wisconsin team, led by Tom Krupenkin …
What does it feel like to walk in these shoes, and does it make walking more difficult? I.e. is it extracting energy that would have gone as heat anyway, or do you end up using more energy to walk?
Of course it might be useful to use more energy if you're walking for exercise, but not for normal walking.