Bola Sociology Design

Design+Innovation: Human Power

November 6th, 2009

Martijn Dijkhuizen is a student at the Design Academy Eindhoven, where annually the university promotes an exhibition to present the best projects designed inside their classrooms. Martin’s masters thesis was presented in this year’s event, along with other brilliant projects like the Minimal Dress. Called Human Power, it is a teddy bear made of metal, which absorbs and stores the energy we produce while we sleep.

To understand the process of harvesting the energy, you have to imagine the human body as an energy plant: while we sleep, the heat produced is transfered to the bed sheets. The metal teddy bear, which is cold, when put in contact with the bed, has a small thermic shock. That shock is what produces the electricity, in a precise representation of the Seebeck Effect, where electricity comes from the clashing of temperatures. After that, the energy is stored in the metal bear, and can be used to power the electrical outlet situated on its belly.

To use the human body as a mean to produce energy is a clean and sustainable way to do it.

Following that line, Fastrounauts is a collection of toys that store energy produced when kids play and use them. In a bigger scale, Pavegen is a model of pavement that produces kinetic energy generated by pedestrians.