MIT's wireless electricity demoed, dubbed WiTricity

We always knew Tesla was right: MIT physics professor Marin Soljacic and his team of researchers behind the latest wireless electricity scheme have reportedly demoed their magnetically coupled resonator technology on a 60-watt lightbulb that wasn't plugged in. Of course, no technology should be without a name, and so they've dubbed it WiTricity. Apparently Soljacic thinks it's possible to commercialize WiTricity within the next few years, which would be totally amazing if it was powered by Steorn's humanity-saving infinite energy device. [Warning: subscription req'd for link]

[Nando @ Jun 7th 2007 3:46PM]

"WiTricity" sounds too much like a thing for/from the Wii console.

[Cupajo @ Jun 7th 2007 3:54PM]

I would imagine it's pronounced with a long I sound. "Why-tricity"

[Stephen @ Jun 7th 2007 11:22PM]

Its Not like wii its wi as in WiFi the i says i not e.

[Josh B. @ Jun 10th 2007 12:21AM]

I sincerely believe that this technology will overshadow the hell out of the Wii, and people will instead be saying, "Man, the Wii sounds alot like WiTricity, I bet that's why they named it that." At least that's the way it should be. I mean, I love video games and am in love with my PS3, but the day the wii is more popular than WIRELESS ELEC-FRIGGIN-TRICITY, then... that'll be the day that I, uh... get really mad?

[crzycajn @ Jun 7th 2007 4:03PM]

Since Tesla first proposed it why not call it Teslacity?

[edgore @ Jun 7th 2007 5:04PM]

Because Teslacity is going to be the name of the utopian wirelessly powered megopolis that we all get to live in in the future.

[idriss @ Jun 7th 2007 5:47PM]

hahahahaha

[Richard @ Jul 13th 2007 3:33PM]

I vote for Teslicity. It sounds more like "electicity" and its giving the guy the credit he has always deserved for this. He got the shaft big time back in the day, lets give him the credit now.

[brendan Sheehan jnr @ Jun 7th 2007 3:54PM]

Who cares what they call it, as long as we get it in our products. Imagine a wireless keyboard and mouse that never need to be charged - now there's a future we'd all like to live in.

[Rob @ Jun 7th 2007 4:47PM]

http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/05/magnetic-implant-gives-body-modder-a-sixth-sense/


good luck

[mastershake3 @ Jun 8th 2007 11:59AM]

try a future where energy from solar arrays in space can be broadcast down to earth A LA G.I.Joe, or where robots need not carry thier power sources. This could be potentially massive. No need for any fossil fuels in say oh 40 years!!

[Spanky @ Jun 7th 2007 4:08PM]

I would love to see a desk that is plugged in and everything that sits on it gets its power via harmonic resonance or whatever .. that would be something.

[Rand @ Jun 7th 2007 4:11PM]

Oh sure it all sounds great until some lady in the U.K. complains she's getting slowly electrocuted by all that WiTricity buzzing around.

[WiWhat? @ Jun 7th 2007 4:24PM]

It will KILL you by giving you cancer

[Frankenstein Black @ Jun 7th 2007 4:26PM]

Those darn evolution believing scientists and their mankind changing inventions. They should all be burned as witches! Oh, and let us purge ourselves of their wicked ungodly inventions. Now, let us return to the caves fellow r-wing nuts! And let us deny our selves their demon medicines as well. And let us not forget, no fire starting (like that first caveman who was the scientist of his time). We sit in the dark and wait for lighten to strike!

[Boynamedsue @ Jun 7th 2007 4:34PM]

wow, i hate right wing nuts as much as the next guy but... what the hell man? soap box in inappropriate places much?

[jim @ Jun 7th 2007 5:00PM]

Dude, needless rant. There are crazed anti-scitech nuts all over the spectrum. Sure, some righties are afraid of evolution, but I know more anti-science lefties personally. Lots of people terrified of genetic engineering. Hey, I get a couple crazed warning emails every year from my lefty friends about killer plastics. Every year I send them the same link at the FDA about how microwaves and plastic are perfectly safe ...

People enjoy getting hysterical about the world. Some scream about evolution, some about invisible rays. Yet others rail against r-wing nuts. It's all part of the paranoid fun.

[Pedro @ Jun 7th 2007 4:26PM]

"magnetically coupled resonator technology"

Behold, the magic of induction!

[Mark @ Jun 7th 2007 4:35PM]

Speaking of the infinite energy device (sorry, I haven't seen that 1 before) couldn't creating all this energy cause some major problems? In computer physics simulations if you screw up and accidentally add in even small amounts of energy continuously it can add up REALLY quickly and the whole thing pretty much explodes.

[Stefan @ Jun 7th 2007 4:37PM]

this is one of those landmark inventions we have been waiting for

[Smoothcriminal @ Jun 7th 2007 4:43PM]

I know what they did, they played a floating electricity bulb trick!

[TIMMAH! @ Jun 7th 2007 4:44PM]

Because-tricity...

[Mike @ Jun 7th 2007 5:03PM]

I'm worried about this one. With the creation of RFID and other broadsprectrum transmission technologies, we knew this was coming... Eventually. Now that it's here we really need to be concerned about the health aspects of this. If your concerned about a cell phone giving you cancer, think about what a signal strong enough to power a lightbulb might do. I can guarantee you that it will be a long long time before the feds give this one a green light.

[Jacob Kennedy @ Jun 7th 2007 5:10PM]

Agreed. While it's super cool and likely has all kinds of excellent non-military uses I can't see it being used outside of a shielded and sealed container of some kind (or in giant Tesla towers frying all who approach - C&C nails it every time, doesn't it?).

[chaosrain @ Jun 7th 2007 5:14PM]

Don't be so quick to Judge, Mike. If you look at some information about Tesla, he determined the harmonic resonance frequency for the Earth which was verified decades later. It just so turns out that it is the same frequency found in humans. There are even cool pictures of Mark Twain (Tesla's bud) lighting a lightbulb by acting as the conduit. If Tesla's work was accurate, it may turn out that we power our electronics as conductors of a transmitted electrical frequency with absolutely no harm to ourselves.

If you want to come up with a reason why the feds would block this one, you have to ask the question "Who benefits?" If you can't jam a power consumption meter up people's butts so you can charge them for the energy they derive from the transmitted power source a lot of really rich people will lose their shirts. They'll likely leverage their assets to ensure that this'll never see the light of air.

[Ed @ Jun 7th 2007 11:08PM]

You don't know how right you are, chaosrain. When Tesla was originally developing this as a way to power the entire world for pennies, his primary benefactor suddenly pulled his funding. When he found out Tesla intended to give the entire world cheap power, he couldn't see the profit in it. Though Tesla's invention (he had already developed what these guys just re-developed) was to use the magnetic resonence of the planet to bounce around and amplify a small amount of power. His plan was that everyone would get power simply by tapping the ground itself.
Tesla was perhaps the greatest man to ever live. When it turned out the deal he got from Westinghouse for royalties on the power would have netted him untold millions, and bankrupted the company, he tore up the contract and settled for a mere $200K, just so the company could stay in business and people could have electricity.

[matbrady @ Jun 8th 2007 1:43AM]

In an article linked to this one it discreetly says, "but [Tesla's] most ambitious attempt [world-wide wireless electricity] failed when he ran out of money."

This is laughable. It assumes that science somehow needs money to work. This is false. E!=mc$

As I understand it, WiTricity uses different principles than Tesla's Wardenclyffe Tower (ie. it doesn't use the electromagnetic field of the planet). It disheartens me that Tesla's magnanimous gesture to the world was in 1905! And yet no-one has even attempted to recreate it. Am I wrong about this? Has anyone made any serious attempts to mimic Tesla grandest experiment? I would seriously appreciate if anyone has an answer to this.

[Ed @ Jun 8th 2007 11:42AM]

Theory doesn't require money, but making the stuff actually work, unfortunatly does. Tesla's inventions were not cheap. Unlike Einstein, Tesla's theories were applicable in physical reality immediately.

I do not think anyone has attempted to repeat what Tesla was developing. Honestly, I don't believe anyone alive today understands the principals of electromagnetism like he did. A lot of people consider him a crackpot when they hear about this particular invention, and not to mention the "death ray" (though HE never called it a death ray. It was some sort of particle weapon). However, what most people don't realize is that HE single-handedly invented the modern world. The electricity we use, motors, engines... all started with Tesla. Hell, he even invented radio remote control back in the early 1900s. He was truly a "mad scientist". It is fortunate for us all that he was such a humanitarian. He is on record of believing that he could have cracked the world in half by sending the proper frequency through the crust... and considering how much of what he did actually did work, it is hard to disbelieve him. (He also thought he was receiving radio signals from Mars... but at that time, "Mars" was synonymous with "outer space", so who knows what he was seeing or where it came from. He may have detected pulsars long before anyone else did.)

[Mike @ Jun 7th 2007 5:09PM]

Well yes and no. All computer circuitry is very sensitive to static and electromagnetic interference. You can scuff your feet on the carpet, touch your computer and blow a transistor. If the signal is disrupted or an altered magnetic path between the resinator occours, some serious damage could occour.

[Whiplash @ Jun 7th 2007 5:14PM]

WiTricity??? Another fine example of the real need for Marketing people.

[Mel @ Jun 7th 2007 6:34PM]

Call it Niktricity - abbreviating Tesla's first name, and its wireless - nicht wires.

[bombastinator @ Jun 7th 2007 5:14PM]

Yawn... another broadcast power scheme. It's as old as radio. It's inefficient (really really inefficient) and depending on the style favored, often quite dangerous.

Broadcast power is one of those terms along with "amazing pain relieving device" and perpetual motion, which generally signify a scam in operation. That they got 2 out of 3 going here is really quite impressive.

[alphaman @ Jun 7th 2007 5:16PM]

Ppffftthhhhhttt... that's old hat. Just check out these wireless extension cords. Only $35...

http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff/41/wec.shtml

With a 300' range, I dare say you couldn't buy *wired* extension cords at that price!

(Note to the silly: yes, this is silly.)

[heeeat @ Jun 7th 2007 7:17PM]

I agree...

CANCER!!

I'll let some early adopters try it out and see if cancer rates spike before I go near this...

[Mark @ Jun 7th 2007 5:30PM]

I'm actually less worried about this giving you cancer or anything than I am about anything metal that's within range of this thing heating up like crazy, just like with an induction stove. Not to mention induction tends to cause sparks in anything metal as well (think of your car's gas tank) and this could cause major havok.

[CharlieX @ Jun 7th 2007 5:37PM]

BZZZ!!! BZZZZ!!!!! all that metal in your prosthetic arm is gonna tingle.... whooo wheee!

[donjimenez @ Jun 7th 2007 5:57PM]

Wireless electric cars anyone? If they can finally make this a relitity without negative effects on the body, this would revolutinize life as we know it (national security, technology, etc.) Take 30 seconds to think about it and imagine the possibilities.

[pv @ Jun 7th 2007 7:21PM]

Sounds like a late April fools!
http://db.tidbits.com/article/07620

[Chuckles McGee @ Jun 7th 2007 8:04PM]

I think we could see some wireless chargers (basically a charging pad that lets you lay the device down) very, very soon, but the whole "nothing needs a plug" thing seems very off.

[Jack @ Jun 7th 2007 8:35PM]

This has already been done and commercialized. Heard of Powercast? Check it out.

http://www.powercastco.com

[atrain @ Jun 7th 2007 10:09PM]

I don't know about the rest of you, but I know Exactly what I would do with this...

Have the lightbulb suspended by one of those magnetic "anti-grav" things, while being illuminated... Eventually, as the technology spreads, it would progressively get less cool I would imagine...

I just cant wait for a reasonable distance battery-free wireless mouse :P

[jeff @ Jun 7th 2007 11:35PM]

atrain : sorry, it's been done. Check it out. http://bea.st/sight/lightbulb/ - I just finished a new version and it will be at Sonar in Barcelona next week.. levitating at about 2.5"...

[davesrave @ Jun 9th 2007 10:40PM]

Are we all missing the point? Of course we can transmit energy wirelessly. The question is can we transmit it efficiently? That would be the true breakthrough.

[Webb @ Jun 7th 2007 10:42PM]

I was just thinking how cool it would be to incorporate this and Microsoft's "Surface"

Just think of getting home, and setting your cell down on the "Surface" coffee table and it starts charging, as well as offering all the fancy options that they are currently thinking about with Surface.

Amazing stuff.

[freeman @ Jun 7th 2007 11:17PM]

Please stop spreading this psudo-science nonsense about getting cancer from these kinds of devices. I assure you, the physics and biology of this is well understood and it isn't possible. This idea persists in culture because people have a wild misunderstanding of the electromagnetic spectrum. Cancer is caused through mutations in DNA. The bond energy in DNA is approximately 2 electron-volts. The energy of a photon is Planck's constant times frequency. Only at frequencies ABOVE violet in the visible spectrum does this energy become greater than 2 electron-volts and can cause cancer. So, X-rays and ultra-violet cause cancer and radio waves, microwaves and wifi don't. Nor does the extremely low frequency of power lines at 60 hertz (about a trillion cycles per second too slow!).

Please stop spreading this nonsense. It's got power-crystals and witch-burning written all over it, and any serious scientist will shake his head at your misunderstandings.

[raron @ Jun 13th 2007 2:07AM]

matbrady:

Taken from memory, Robert Golka tried to duplicate some of Tesla's results in the late 70's / early 80's(?) I believe. But it appeared he needed MUCH more energy than Tesla did.

According to TCBOR (Tesla Coil Builders of Rochmond(?, again, from memory..), one reason could be because he didn't understand Tesla's 3-coil system. Some guys (last name Corum, brothers?) have a rather lengthy and theoretical explanation of this, early 90's. Google or ed2k p2p it.

I don't know if he tried to replicate wireless electricity though. The principle seems simple enough though, even for DIY'ers, and probably have been for several decades already.(I'm just too lazy or un-zkilled)

Glad more people realize this is just good'ol Tesla-stuff.

[drtekger @ Jun 8th 2007 1:44AM]

CANCER!

[sandal @ Jun 8th 2007 4:52AM]

so later there will be wireless stunt gun!
i can give mr John Doe an electric shock without any contact. great but scary..

[CodeRed @ Jun 8th 2007 2:26AM]

Ironic of "Bombastinator" to say that this is just another broadcast power scheme...and that it's AS OLD AS THE RADIO - since it is as old as the radio, literally. Besides ambient power transfer, Tesla also discovered the ability to transmit signals and invented what is today called....a RADIO. How unfortunate for "Bomb" to use one of Telsa's own discoveries and inventions to unknowingly bash another. Ersh...

Freeman is right about the cancer. Hysteria and a lack of education run hand-in-hand, so you should all listen up to what he wrote. Brilliant in that he provides FACTs and not FEARs, as many others have. Nice work, Freeman, it's good to see some logic out there.

Last but not least, please visit the following link: http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2007/05/1000_flouresent_lights_po.html
It's visual proof that, along with Powercast, wireless extension chords and other gadgmoz, this potential is far more 'available' and closer to true utilization than people understand. The link even provides a photograph for those of you who don't read (but if you don't read, how did you get this far down the list of comments?)...

Ahoy!

[sami @ Jun 8th 2007 2:55AM]

Whaddya mean we always knew Tesla was right? The same way we knew Daimler and Benz invented combustion engine? Tesla proved it working, and there is a "WiTricity" generator in Tesla museum in Serbia.

Chinese may have invented the gunpowder, but we can always invent more of it.

And yeah, by the way... What are radio waves?

And why is it not ok to use radio waves to take electricity for example to your lamps, if this "WiTricity" technology have just been "discovered"? (You know that radio amateur geek next door from you who has that weird clock that doesn't seem to need any batteries or winding, but still always work?)