Demo at D9: UBeam

Anyone who relies on a laptop computer knows the sinking feeling that comes from leaving a charger at home.

UBeam, a company co-founded by recent University of Pennsylvania graduates Meredith Perry and Nora Dweck, thinks it may have a solution: Wireless charging stations.

Perry and Dweck will demo the uBeam charge system, which consists of a charge station and a battery adapter. The plug-in charge station is designed to transmit ultrasound waves, which are converted to electricity by the adapter.

It isn’t cutting the cord, but it might give us a little room to breathe.

10:46 am: Perry and Dweck take the stage–Walt explains that this will be more of a proof-of-concept demo.

10:47 am: Perry and Dweck won an inventing competition at UPenn–graduated from undergrad less than a month ago.

10:47 am: Perry explains that the charge station, which plugs into any outlet, emits ultrasound.

10:48 am: The second component of the product, the battery adapter, will be about the size of a flash drive. It is customizable and compatible with different types of cords.

10:49 am: Perry: “It will charge your device just as quicky as your wire would.”

10:49 am: The demo is set up with the charge station and battery adapter two feet apart.

10:51 am: Perry says that the best place for the uBeam charge station would be on the ceiling.

10:51 am: UBeam has a multimeter set up to gauge the power being emitted by the charge station. After flipping on the transmitter, the dial goes up.

10:52 am: Perry explains that the frequency of ultrasound emitted from uBeam, just above what a human can hear, is perfectly safe.

10:53 am: Walt and Kara wonder if uBeam could take care of pesky household rodents. Unfortunately, it does not.

10:53 am: Kara: Why did you focus on power? Every other college student is developing a game.

10:54 am: Perry explains that the concept for uBeam originated from a time when she forgot her laptop charger at home.

10:54 am: Dweck: There are two models of uBeam–industrial and personal.

10:54 am: Dweck explains that the industrial version would ideally be used in a place like a coffee shop.

10:55 am: While pricing is still undetermined, uBeam anticipates that the personal model will run $100-150, and the industrial $300-500.

Perry and Dweck conclude the session by telling the audience: “We need money!”

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_GZYEKAFPM6HA4IEEQNELBWUUSU Geoff D

Tesla would be proud.
ali tanara

Damn I had this idea for years… I should have done something…. But great job ! I’m proud.
http://twitter.com/tomarmo Tomasz Marmo?owski

What’s the efficiency? It can’t be high I’m afraid. The ultrasound is spreading and I would estimate the receiver absorbs ~1% of it… (less even). I might be missing something though.
Solutions based on induction work with ~70% efficiency, but they need more than 95% to be reasonably usable.
Anonymous

There are other wireless electricity solutions out there, that also uses soundwaves. I can’t believe efficiency wasn’t even mentioned. Any tech journalist should be smart enough to ask that question. Also if you have to carry around a battery and a dongle with you to use Ubeam, then why not just build laptops etc with bigger batteries so they would not have to be charged at all during the day. Also you still have to carry with you the original charger, because not all coffee shops and cafe’s and schools will have this everywhere. In the future all battery powered portable devices including laptops won’t need charging during the day (like the iPad and most smartphones). If you want impress me with something truly usefull, then show me an inexpensive battery that weighs less, contains more power or charges faster. Not something that I have to build into the roof. If it can’t send electricy to places that doesn’t have wires installed, then seeing insects fall to the ground when flying through a Ubeam isn’t worth it. Everything can be put to industrial use and this thing might help make cool floating in the air lit up stuff, but I don’t see the benefit to ordinary people.
http://komotion.com Razvan Neagu

There is no real cord cutting if the user’s device still needs to have a special receiver attached. Why would it be better to get a receiver instead of a regular electric plugin?
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_FJK43RB7N2UGO2II4UGLI2ZWD4 andrew

The POC was great. The interview was horrible. The questions were exoteric and unfocused.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_FJK43RB7N2UGO2II4UGLI2ZWD4 andrew

This was a proof of concept. You want efficiency, check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5JsNN-baDg
http://twitter.com/landay James Landay

I like this but not sure my dog will!
http://twitter.com/daynenash Dayne Nash

I love the concept of wireless power, but am left with some questions after this interview as others have suggested. efficiency in multiple regards.
so every device needs to have an adapter that can plug into it that is compatible with the ‘battery’ that is charged wirelessly… why does the battery need to be charged wirelessly…??
‘saturate’ the market with uBeam so that coffee shops are constantly beaming power out in the chance someone puts a device within the beam? it also then sounds like we have twice as many batteries… once charging wirelessly that then plugs into your device to charge your devices battery?

electronics manufacturers need to just create a standard for device powering like other standards like USB and interchangable batteries that are charged as efficiently as possible.
Michael Hunger

And what about witricity which was already showcased at TED and the intel dev conference years ago, they at least claim to have a high efficiency (about 75%) ?
http://profiles.google.com/nealjking Neal King

One advantage of the sonic connection: Many receivers can be fed by one power transmitter, not just two or three within the 3 or 4 foot range of the power cord. Of course, the cafe could just deploy lots extension cords as well – they might get underfoot, however. But the efficiency question is important; and probably more studies need to be done concerning the long-term impact on hearing, etc.; and watch out for dogs driven mad by ultrasound.
socialmedia

Meridth,
Just heard your interview on NPR. Please be careful and take care, as there are many “sharks”. PLEASE check out TAFFYSOFTWARE on FB. A colleague of mine with integrity and knowledge about start ups (TAFFY is also a start up) can definitely assist you regarding your navigating your business perform, capitalization process, and probability for YOUR success. Please take this seriously and check out TAFFY. If you contact him, tell him Michael posted… etc. You’re tooo sharp, you understand, you go!
socialmedia

P.S. Besides guidance in how to develop your product, he is very good at prioritization, i.e., getting you to market on your terms.
Sincerely, M
Philip Freidin

Unfortunately, demonstrating a voltage at a receiver under the minimal load (by design) of a multimeter tells almost nothing. You need to show the voltage at some number of milliamps. For example, connect the received voltage to a 100 Ohm load, and report both the current through the resistor, and the voltage across it.

Demo at D9: UBeam

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