Microsoft unveils self-powered remote prototype (Seattle)

The days of scouring the couch cushions for batteries may be numbered. Researchers from Microsoft's lab in Cambridge, England, have created a media remote control called "Peppermill" that converts the twisting motion required to use it into the energy needed to power it. It's a research prototype, not a product, but it points to the larger possibilities in the area of "human-powered user interaction."

Peppermill is an example of "user interface devices that are able to source their power from the physical effort involved in interacting with them, and thereby operate without the need for batteries," write the Microsoft researchers, Nicolas Villar and Steve Hodges, in the paper they presented last week at the international conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction, or TIE 10.

Read the full report and access the research paper via TechFlash.