Go jogging, charge your batteries with Ampy

A new gadget could give new meaning to the healthy energetic feeling from playing sports: it's called Ampy and it captures and stores the energy you generate through exercise so that you can use it to charge your mobile communications devices.

Ampy-the-portable-charger-that-uses-clean-kinetic-energy-Photo-AFP

A new gadget could give new meaning to the healthy energetic feeling from playing sports: it's called Ampy and it captures and stores the energy you generate through exercise so that you can use it to charge your mobile communications devices.

It's a small lithium ion pack and when placed in a pocket or worn on an armband, it transfers kinetic energy for use and later charges devices just as fast as a wall charger, according to the company's Kickstarter page.

Kinetic energy generated from walking, cycling, jogging -- just about anything you do on your feet -- can now be put to use without leaving a carbon footprint.

Ampy comes with a corresponding app that tells you how much energy is in the reservoir: normally one day's worth of walking provides three hours of smartphone charge and 72 hours of juice for your wearable tracker.

The same can be accomplished in about one hour of cycling, according to the company's Kickstarter page, and 30 minutes of running. Smart watches get about 24 hours of juice relative to the aforementioned devices after the same amount of exercise.

It's not a brand new concept: Tremont's nPower Peg, a 'human-powered charger for handheld devices,' retails for US$130. But Ampy, which is smaller than a smartphone and fits easily into a pocket, has a significant advantage in terms of portability over the nPower Peg, which measures 10.5 inches long (27 cm). And in the same area, more tiny devices could come to market in the near future with Zhong Lin Wang unveiling his research about transforming 'everyday motion' into a power source through a 'triboelectric nanogenerator or TENG for short' earlier this year and anticipating market-ready devices within five years.

The Ampy Kickstarter campaign doesn't end until November 10, but Ampy has already raised over $130,000, well above its goal of $100,000.

Ampy can still be pre-ordered for $85 and shipping is expected in June 2015. Orders outside the US should add $15 for shipping and handling.