Wireless Power from Above

Today at CES in Las Vegas we came across a running train-set that wasn’t actually plugged into a powerpoint, no wires… it was being fed power… from the light above. There was something mesmerising about seeing a train run laps using wireless power, many others standing with me were simply entranced.

The light above is from a company called Wi-Charge, they are purely focused on delivering power to your devices using infrared line of sight. The devices they are able to connect to currently are not televisions or appliances but smartphones and other small items that do not require higher voltage power.

On the receiving end there is a receiver that needs to be connected and this may be an instant deterrent. Clearly the iPhone does not have an infrared receiver for charging so you can see how this is a product that needs to be adapted to your environment to make it work.

The product line is still in Beta so you can’t buy it today, you can however apply to join the program where you’ll use a pre-production model.  This is part of why CES is a great event, it is the chance to see what exciting innovation is coming and how it may be applied in the future.