Disney Research Builds Prototype Living Room With 'Safe and Ubiquitous Wireless Power'

[doelcm82]

Have we, first world people, now become so lazy to the point we need a way to charge our phone without to have to remove it from our pocket and to put it on a pad? Really?

This isn't about laziness. It's about ubiquity. The fact that you have a mobile phone, rather than taking the trouble to go talk to someone face to face suggests that you're already beyond help as far as laziness goes. The fact that you say "put it on a pad" versus "plug in a cable" means you've lowered the bar yourself in the past few years.

 

[macduke]

Looks like a seedy Silicon Valley strip club.

Truest comment I've seen in a long time.

Looks like I found a use for that stripper pole I installed back in 2003.

You poor guy, lol. That's quite the dry spell.

Not in the video, but apparently what is actually required for this to work is to repeat the following lyrics:

Sala-gadoola-menchicka-boo-la bibbidi-bobbidi-boo
Put 'em together and what have you got?
Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo

Sala-gadoola-menchicka-boo-la bibbidi-bobbidi-boo
It'll do magic believe it or not
Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo.

Now, Sala-gadoola means menchicka-boolaroo
But the thing-a-ma-bob that does the job is
bibbidi-bobbidi-boo.

Sala-gadoola-menchicka-boo-la bibbidi-bobbidi-boo
Put 'em together and what have you got?
Bibbidi-bobbidi, bibbidi-bobbidi, bibbidi-bobbidi-boo.

Be sure not to try to charge after the stroke of midnight though.

(Seriously very cool stuff, seems like a small charging box would be very possible very soon.)

I never realized how incredibly stupid those lyrics are, lol. I have yet to buy this movie for my daughter, so I haven't seen it in a long time. But I think I just assumed they were coherent lyrics that I just couldn't understand. I knew the bippity boppity parts were nonsense, but the rest mixed with stupid lines of regular english just seem like the work of a mad man, lol.

 

[Michaelgtrusa]

I would love to see this.

 

[Jetfire]

This isn't about laziness. It's about ubiquity. The fact that you have a mobile phone, rather than taking the trouble to go talk to someone face to face suggests that you're already beyond help as far as laziness goes. The fact that you say "put it on a pad" versus "plug in a cable" means you've lowered the bar yourself in the past few years.

How is calling someone on a mobile phone lazy? Should I fly to the other side of the world to talk to my friend face to face?

Wifi was treated the exact same way....

Wifi didn't require you to be in a microwave box. This is a dumb impractical concept with this setup. No one could really afford it or want to set it up in the first place. What I really would like to see is Solar recharging built into cellphones. Heck, I still haven't seen OLED get this idea but into practice. When I first read about OLED almost 20 years ago. It was supposed be cheaper, better and reverse power than LCD. The reverse power part was that when off it could be used like a solar panel.

 

[blacktape242]

thats a fine looking stripper pole in the center of the room.

 

[Thunderhawks]

...You...you understand a prototype is a proof of concept right? Disney isn't going to be shipping poles to people's friggin houses

But, they'd probably sell you one with a monthly subscription!

 

[Mac 128]

Who knew Disney had bleeding-edge technology research teams??

Think about it is way ... All that time customers stand in line at the theme parks can now result in fully charged phones, which can keep guests entertained and mitigate their anger, keep them taking pictures, and posting their adventures, further promoting the park. Also Disney is moving to electronic passports, for admission, purchases and the like, which can be made to do more if battery drain isn't an issue.

And it goes beyond that ... Executives can move throughout their campuses and buildings without ever charging their phones all day. Production crews can move around freely without ever being out of communication in order to charge their phones.

 

[macs4nw]

This is great! You can cook all your food at the same time. No stove required.

If you get hot flashes, just open all the windows and crank 'er down to the lowest setting.....

 

[NT1440]

Who knew Disney had bleeding-edge technology research teams??

They've had some of the coolest R&D for decades:

https://www.disneyresearch.com/projects/

I pay attention to them because they're (at the same time as others around the globe) leading the front in some really groundbreaking stuff in the field of haptics:

https://www.disneyresearch.com/project/3d-touch-surfaces/

 

[doelcm82]

How is calling someone on a mobile phone lazy? Should I fly to the other side of the world to talk to my friend face to face?

Are you seriously saying you only use your mobile phone to call people on the other side of the world? You could write them a letter if you were willing to put in the effort.

The point that wireless power is overkill if it's just to save the small effort of putting your mobile phone on a charger deliberately ignores all the other ways this technology could be put to use. You can use your mobile phone to text someone across the room. Does that make mobile phones just a silly gadget for lazy people?

 

[Jakexb]

Any room that I have to be assured "it's perfectly safe to spend extended periods of time in" is a room I will not spend any time in at all. (Also please stay a half meter from the death pole at all times)

Then don't go outside while the sun is out. That's actually radiation that isn't safe to spend extended periods of time in.

 

[Shunnabunich]

So that's why we never saw Judy Hopps plug in her phone.

 

[Bigsk8r]

Source.

I know it makes sense, but these are using magnetic resonance coupling to deliver the power, not beaming microwaves at you.

The power required to overcome a human bodies Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) threshold is determined on a curve of frequency wavelength vs power.

A microwave oven puts out 1100 Watts at 2.45 GHz. That would not resonate in your body per se, but IS a frequency specifically chosen because it makes volumes of water (what is in nearly all food) interact and heat rapidly. As such, it would harm your surface cells quickly.

This system (assuming article accuracy) is 1.32 MHz at 1900 Watts. While the power sounds significant, it is not at a frequency that would be harmful in short exposure. What I would be concerned about though is long term magnetic effects. By magnetically exciting your blood cells, anemia like systems can occur. Other examples of similar conditions have been documented in people living in homes near high voltage power transmission lines.

I have no desire to be near either a high microwave, nor a high magnetic field, for any significant period of time.

 

[NT1440]

The power required to overcome a human bodies Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) threshold is determined on a curve of frequency wavelength vs power.

A microwave oven puts out 1100 Watts at 2.45 GHz. That would not resonate in your body per se, but IS a frequency specifically chosen because it makes volumes of water (what is in nearly all food) interact and heat rapidly. As such, it would harm your surface cells quickly.

This system (assuming article accuracy) is 1.32 MHz at 1900 Watts. While the power sounds significant, it is not at a frequency that would be harmful in short exposure. What I would be concerned about though is long term magnetic effects. By magnetically exciting your blood cells, anemia like systems can occur. Other examples of similar conditions have been documented in people living in homes near high voltage power transmission lines.

I have no desire to be near either a high microwave, nor a high magnetic field, for any significant period of time.

What gives you the impression that this is a high magnetic field? Every version of this type of technology I've ever seen (and I've been watching the field impatiently since at least 2008) uses specifically tuned frequencies paired across a transmitter and receiver specifically so that weaker magnetic fields can be used....

That said, you clearly have more concrete scientific understanding of RF than I do.

 

[Bigsk8r]

What gives you the impression that this is a high magnetic field? Every version of this type of technology I've ever seen (and I've been watching the field impatiently since at least 2008) uses specifically tuned frequencies paired across a transmitter and receiver specifically so that weaker magnetic fields can be used....

That said, you clearly have more concrete scientific understanding of RF than I do.

You make a good point. "High" is relative. High compared to my wooden desk and state of the art LCD monitor? Most likely. High compared to an old CRT and high power consuming, late 90's PC? Maybe not.

I think the experiment they have done here has a lot of value. We make jokes about the "stripper pole", but there isn't a reason why you couldn't build that into the middle of a decorative "pillar" to keep people from getting closer than 0.5m. It's a neat idea.

The big test will be actually filling the room with electrically and/or magnetically conductive material (human bodies, food, drinks, etc...) and see how well it works in a more 'real world' scenario.

 

[Jetfire]

Are you seriously saying you only use your mobile phone to call people on the other side of the world? You could write them a letter if you were willing to put in the effort.

The point that wireless power is overkill if it's just to save the small effort of putting your mobile phone on a charger deliberately ignores all the other ways this technology could be put to use. You can use your mobile phone to text someone across the room. Does that make mobile phones just a silly gadget for lazy people?

Since I don't have a landline yes. On writing a letter I would use E-mail or text

But you wrote "The fact that you have a mobile phone, rather than taking the trouble to go talk to someone face to face suggests that you're already beyond help as far as laziness goes."

By what you wrote just owning a Mobile phone makes me lazy. I shouldn't talk to anyone on a Mobile Phone but meet them face to face. No matter where they are or I am. Be it the next office, floor, building, city, country, etc. Even to call them to come meet me to talk Face to Face.

The point of (true) wireless power is not overkill for cellphone, but this implementation of it is. The cost, time and even potential heath problems is not worth it for the small gain in time of not plugging in you phone.

The current wireless phone charge mats make now sense to me since you still have to plug them in. But some people like the option to do it. That's their choice and more power to them.

 

[ZZ9pluralZalpha]

Remember all the people last week who said wireless charging further than a foot was impossible because you can't change physics?

Obviously this has some caveats as mentioned in the article, but this still gives very good insight that Apple could be working on something great when it comes to wireless charging.

Wireless charging is perfectly possible... if you're willing to live inside a giant microwave oven. Efficient--and therefore, completely safe--wireless charging is what the naysayers, and the inverse-square law, are being dubious about.

 

[DTphonehome]

Then don't go outside while the sun is out. That's actually radiation that isn't safe to spend extended periods of time in.

It actually does increase your risk of skin cancer to be outside for extended periods of time without sunscreen.

 

[sudo1996]

My iPhone lasts multiple days on battery, and I own a charging cable and also sleep up to 8 hours every night. Barring cable problems, what exactly are they trying to solve?
[doublepost=1487638930][/doublepost]

This isn't about laziness. It's about ubiquity. The fact that you have a mobile phone, rather than taking the trouble to go talk to someone face to face suggests that you're already beyond help as far as laziness goes. The fact that you say "put it on a pad" versus "plug in a cable" means you've lowered the bar yourself in the past few years.

The cable has actually been a problem for iPhone users ever since Apple designed that trash that is Lightning. Doesn't charge half the time. They need to either go to a charging mat or fix their crap.
[doublepost=1487639096][/doublepost]

Yes, because technology never gets smaller. Computers today are no smaller than the computers of 50 years ago. /s

Phones won't get smaller until they figure out a way to not rely on human eyes to see the screen.
[doublepost=1487639172][/doublepost]The title shouldn't say "Safe and Ubiquitous Wireless Power" if you can't go within half a yard of the center of the room. It's good that they built this prototype, but they did not achieve what the title says.

 

[centauratlas]

I could charge my phone and talk with the lightning ear phones at the same time!

 

[doelcm82]

Since I don't have a landline yes. On writing a letter I would use E-mail or text

But you wrote "The fact that you have a mobile phone, rather than taking the trouble to go talk to someone face to face suggests that you're already beyond help as far as laziness goes."

By what you wrote just owning a Mobile phone makes me lazy. I shouldn't talk to anyone on a Mobile Phone but meet them face to face. No matter where they are or I am. Be it the next office, floor, building, city, country, etc. Even to call them to come meet me to talk Face to Face.

The point of (true) wireless power is not overkill for cellphone, but this implementation of it is. The cost, time and even potential heath problems is not worth it for the small gain in time of not plugging in you phone.

The current wireless phone charge mats make now sense to me since you still have to plug them in. But some people like the option to do it. That's their choice and more power to them.

What I wrote about owning a mobile phone being an indicator that you were lazy was hyperbole. I was making fun of the idea that wireless power was just a lazy first worlder's solution to a first world problem. So yeah, I don't expect you to do all of your meetings face to face. Thanks for recognizing how ridiculous that is. The only ones I hear seriously objecting to mobile phones are some of my contemporaries who fondly remember the days before everyone had them (when our brains were rotted by 27" television screens, rather than by 4.7" mobile phone screens). And those who object to wireless power will seem like cantankerous old farts in a decade or two when some version of it (probably not this implementation) truly is ubiquitous.
[doublepost=1487660442][/doublepost]

My iPhone lasts multiple days on battery, and I own a charging cable and also sleep up to 8 hours every night. Barring cable problems, what exactly are they trying to solve?

A bigger one than just your iPhone. Why would they go to all this trouble just for YOUR iPhone? Especially when you don't even seem to want it?

 

[zantafio]

That's their choice and more power to them.

I see what you did here....

 

[bstpierre]

I think more importantly than charging our phones is the capability to keep something running non-stop in that room. A good example is driving an RC car or flying an RC helicopter. Imagine all day fun that is uninterrupted instead of 15 minute bursts of fun followed by waiting for a recharge.

 

[sudo1996]

A bigger one than just your iPhone. Why would they go to all this trouble just for YOUR iPhone? Especially when you don't even seem to want it?

All these experiments and vaporware are targeting mobile phones, and any modern mobile phone will last long enough on battery for anyone to be able to charge at night. And what makes you think I don't want my iPhone?

 

[doelcm82]

All these experiments and vaporware are targeting mobile phones, and any modern mobile phone will last long enough on battery for anyone to be able to charge at night. And what makes you think I don't want my iPhone?

Did you read the article?

Disney had to design a receiver that allowed the researchers to "power many devices simultaneously." Including an iPhone, the other objects included an RC car, a fan, a lamp, and six other devices.