“WiTricity”: The Future Of Handheld Gaming?

Scientists from Massachusetts Institute of Technology have made a breakthrough that could have significant implications for portable gaming: wireless power.

The team has managed to light a 60W light bulb using a power source seven feet away with no physical connection using what it calls “WiTricity”.

In MIT's words, here's how the technology works: "WiTricity is based on using coupled resonant objects. Two resonant objects of the same resonant frequency tend to exchange energy efficiently, while interacting weakly with extraneous off-resonant objects."

Or, in more dumbed-down terms, “Imagine a room with 100 identical wine glasses, each filled with wine up to a different level, so they all have different resonant frequencies. If an opera singer sings a sufficiently loud single note inside the room, a glass of the corresponding frequency might accumulate sufficient energy to even explode, while not influencing the other glasses.” You get the gist.

What the technology could mean is that in the future you'll be able to charge your PSP 3 without ever plugging it in. We know, the effort of plugging a wire in isn't immense, but what about that annoying point in your train journey when your battery dies? A WiTricity terminal would certainly make your time with GNER a bit less frustrating.

The notion of wireless energy is nothing new, but increasing numbers of portable electrical such as gaming handhelds, phones and iPods has made research in the field more commercially viable.

Granted, you're not going to be beaming power directly your DS next month, but a wireless future is getting ever-closer.