Just when you’re in the middle of an exciting battle or about to win a race, the console has to go on the charger. There goes all the excitement. An integrated swivel handle solves this problem.

Eureka is the section on ‘product designs for tomorrow’ in De Ingenieur.

Two researchers from Delft hope that, in the near future, not only will the problem of flat batteries in consoles be solved, but gaming itself will also become a lot more fun in the process. They have designed a portable games console which, in addition to solar panels, features a crank that gamers can turn.

When they do so, the kinetic energy from the rotating motion is converted into electrical energy by a DC motor: power for the games console.

But that’s not all. The real game-changer is that Associate Professor Przemysław Pawełczak and researcher Jasper de Winkel have managed to integrate that crank handle into the gameplay itself. Anyone playing the first-person shooter DOOM on the Delft console can fire a weapon using the crank handle. In Tetris, players can use it to slow down the speed of the falling blocks. In this way, gamers charge their console without even realising it whilst they play.

Demo: Dutch scientists find way to charge your game console while playing

Gamers responded positively to this new experience during testing, which has encouraged the researchers to continue developing the battery-free console.

One of the ideas is to explore whether gamers can generate energy in other ways too, for example by pulling a string, squeezing a ball or using other ‘design elements that feel both natural and engaging’, says researcher James Broadhead on the TU Delft website. A battery or mains connection is certainly not one of them.


Photo: Patrick Wetzels