By The Leaf Grip Remote Control concept is out and about. The same company that created the electric walking aid we’ve let you know about earlier, has come up with a solar powered remote control. What’s great about this remote control is that you won’t have to deal with battery changing anymore. And that’s because the Leaf Grip Remote Control doesn’t need one.
The Leaf Grip Remote Control comes with no buttons and using it is just a piece of cake. If you want to change the channel, then all you have to do is to twist it. Bend it and thus you’ll adjust the volume. If you want to turn on/off your TV, you’ll just have to gently shake the remote control. Quite simple and innovative, right?
Now you may wonder how this remote control is able to do all these things by simply twisting it or bending it. Well, a special polyester piezoelectric film has been used for the Leaf Grip Remote Control. This one is being used to detect unique motions (twisting and bending).
Once these motions are detected, the polyester piezoelectric film produces a voltage in response. This film is present in both sides of the controller. So, each film on the two sides will react to one motion, that is bending or twisting. In this matter, Murata Manufacturing says that:
“The films are transparent, so we’ve built in a photoelectric cell. The power from the cell is stored in a double-layer capacitor, and used to produce the signals that control the TV.”
Having been developed by Murata Manufacturing along with Mitsui Chemical and the Kansai University, the Leaf Grip remote controller is just a prototype. The company hopes and plans to provide samples in the spring of the next year. The idea of this remote control came up as one of its developers’ mother had to difficulties in seeing the buttons. Thus she had to put her glasses to use the remote properly.
This is something that happens very often, so many people will probably embrace this type of a remote control. It will be of great use for many of us, especially for older people. One of its developers has also said that the film used for Leaf Grip is an organic one and this way its area can be made large. Thus, the company is thinking of “developing a variety of applications for it, by using it as a force sensor in all kinds of places.”
Check the video below to see what we’re talking about.