Power walking... to charge your phone!

The Daily Mail reported recently that mechanical engineering students have developed a shoe that can charge a mobile phone.

Four students were able to employ and store the energy produced with each step a person took and use it to charge a phone.

The new PediPower shoes turn motion into phone charge and it is hoped that the same principle may one day be use for life-saving medical devices.

Cameron, a company who specialises in equipment and services for the oil and gas industry, approached four students at Rice University in Houston, Texas. They wanted the students to develop new green energy technologies and they decided to focus their studies on developing a shoe-mounted generator. 

Their devices are currently too big for day-to-day usage but the project is expected to be picked up by another team of Rice students in Autumn, with the hope they can refine the materials, shrink the size and boost the power output, all of which will get PediPower closer to being a commercial product.

'If we could prove that we could produce some usable power, store it in a battery and discharge that battery on a mobile device or an MP3 player, then we could prove this device works,' Armada said. 

'Now the next team can come in and make it smaller and lighter without sacrificing power.'

In the meantime you will just have to keep using your regular phone charger. But who knows what the future may bring...