For once, having
socks full of urine and bacteria is a good thing. A pair of sock-like
generators, designed by robotics researchers at the University of the West of
England in Bristol, U.K., are able to turn human waste and locomotion into
electrical power with a bit of help from microbes. According to them, this is
the first time anyone has combined microbial fuel cells with wearable
technology. Indeed, the socks produced enough electricity to power a
specialized wireless transmitter sending out the message “World’s First Wearable
MFC” every two minutes. The crux of the idea was to create a self-contained
system for generating power, with an eye toward survivalist scenarios. Using
microbial fuel cells to generate electricity is nothing new.
In these
previous iterations, however, an external power source was needed to power
pumps to move the urine around and keep the microbes fed. The idea for the foot
power was not, alas, inspired by Flintstones reruns but by the simplified
circulatory system of fish, which is a single closed circuit powered by the
simple pumping motion of the heart. Instead of muscular contractions, the sock
uses the squeezing power of the human heel to drive the urine around so that it
passes through 24 (24!) discrete, flexible MFCs positioned at different points
around the sock. Just as a fish’s muscles need their blood supply kept
circulating to keep a fresh supply of oxygen available, the microbes in the
MFCs need their urine bath constantly exchanged to ensure a steady supply of
nutrients.
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