sOccket
Four Harvard graduates are putting their own spin on soccer. Jessica Matthews, Jessica Lin, Hemali Thakkar, and Julia Silverman all spent time in Africa as undergraduates and were exposed to the poor energy situation there, where 95 of the population does not have access to electricity. Their idea? Create a soccer ball that can store energy.It’s a bit of a leap, sure, but not much of one. All of that kinetic energy expended on a soccer ball is generally wasted, but the sOccket (www.soccket.com), stores that energy and can then be used to charge LED lights and batteries. The website claims 15 minutes of play can power 3 hours of LED light, using an inductive coil mechanism.If you’re interested in getting a ball of your own, you’ll have to wait a little bit longer. The team is still finishing up the prototyping stage on the ball, although they showed it off at the Laboratory at Harvard on October 7. You can sign up for the sOccket mailing list at the website and periodically receive information as the product gets closer to release.