The prototype handheld game console , built by researchers at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, harvests enough energy from sunlight and keystrokes to run low-key, retro games. loading data like Tetris and Super Mario Land.
A possible solution to electronic waste
This configuration, which does not need a lithium battery like the one that conventional portable game consoles have incorporated, nor a connection to the electrical network, was presented last September at the UbiComp virtual conference, and it is expected that the The development of this prototype may one day help curb the accumulation of electronic waste caused by portable games and other technological devices, and which are tremendously polluting for the soil and the oceans if they are not recycled correctly.
Basically, this model of portable video console powered by small solar panels is the same thing that Nintendo did with its famous Game Boy at the end of the 90s, but using a much more sustainable technology, which allows almost all its components to be recycled and in whose manufacturing process no polluting emissions are produced into the atmosphere.
The researchers built their device from scratch rather than repurpose a Game Boy, as the original console used too much power to run and ran out of battery very quickly. Old Game Boys use five to ten times more power than the hardware you’re experimenting with.
The heart of this sustainable game console is made up of a small, low-power microcontroller that runs a program just like it did on the Game Boy. In other words, the computer hardware reads the instructions from the game cartridge. Solar panels on the front of the device collect energy from sunlight, and each button contains a small magnet that, when pressed or released, moves through a coil of wire below the button. That change in the magnetic field around the coil generates an electrical current that can also be used to power the device, so energy can also be generated to power the device while it is being played.
Produces energy while playing
Some games are much more likely to generate energy by pressing buttons than others, since, for example, it is quite unlikely that the player will be pressing buttons all the time in a game like Pokémon, which basically consists of moving around an open world and fighting from time to time. Occasionally. However, in games like Tetris you have to press buttons much more often and much more quickly and frantically due to the dynamics of the game itself.
In well-lit environments, the solar panel console can store enough power to run for about 10 seconds on its own before shutting down and restarting.
REFERENCES:
Northwestern University/Delft University of Technology.
