Yo Yo Powered MP3 Player

AUG 25

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"i think you have to play with it first to have it charged. but what if..."

Written by Hank Green on 25/08/06

On the list of devices that can generate power, I have not yet seen the yo yo. But why not, it's basically just a rotor, all you need is some electromagnetic coils and a permanent magnet and you've got a portable power generator. Then, if you can fit in some firmware, a flash drive, a circular lithium ion battery and wireless broadcaster, you've got the most awesome, longest-lasting, carbon-neutral mp3 player in the world. And that's exactly the inspiration that drove Chris Aimone and Tomek Bartczak to design this concept for a wireless yoyo powered personal music player.

It's a while off from production, especially the display technology which seems to be some kind of transparent LCD, it's a darned good idea and recently took home the Pop Sci and Core77 award for best human-powered design.

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headphones
written by a guest, August 26, 2006

wireless headphones?

wow
written by a guest, August 26, 2006

if they pull this off, its going to be BIG!!

sweet
written by a guest, August 26, 2006

sweet

how?
written by a guest, August 26, 2006

can you please tell me how u came up with this.how much will it cost?and when is it comming out.

does it spin
written by a guest, August 26, 2006

do you have to spin it to power the MP3 Player part?

More complicated than you\'d think.
written by a guest, August 27, 2006

To generate power, the coil must move within a stationary magnetic field, or the magnet must move within or around the coil. If the whole yo-yo is spinning, both are moving, yet they remain motionless with respect to each other (kind of like how a tree looks motionless to us, but we are both moving as earth turns).

You could engineer around this I suppose, using some way to limit the movement of one of the two parts. Now a skateboard or bicycle powered MP3 player, that would be easy.

Not that complicated
written by a guest, August 27, 2006

The coil

wow
written by a guest, August 28, 2006

gee whiz how do they come up with this stuff anyways?

positioning the magnet vs. the coil
written by a guest, August 29, 2006

Using a transaxle style yoyo (like the Yomega Fireball) would separate the magent (in the transaxle collet) from the coil (in the yoyo body - or reverse them). The best part would be to make the MP3 player transmit by bluetooth - then you could listen _while_ you spun :)

Joshua C. Sasmor

http://people.setohill.edu/sasmor

AMAZING!!
written by a guest, August 30, 2006

Are you sure this will work? Will your team over come the obsticles invloved? I think it is a neat little invention, and i am writing a report on it for my biology project.

Mine
written by YO YO, September 18, 2007

When and where can i buy it and how much is it going to be ;D ;D

Mgr.
written by Flint, February 28, 2008

It is not just the site http://www.mp3-films.com/ with all kinds of music you want, besides it is absolutely free.

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