A professional percussionist with the band Faithless for over 20 years, Sudha Kheterpal developed the idea based on her time performing on stages all across the world, wondering if the huge amounts of energy produced could be turned into a useable power source.
According to an article by DesignBoom, “After her initial research, she discovered advancements and techniques in relation to harvesting kinetic energy. Since then, alongside Sian Simpson, a product designer from the Royal College of Art in the UK, the musician has been developing an instrument in the form of a prototype percussion shaker called ‘Spark,’ which if shaken for 12 minutes, will generate an hour’s worth of light.”
The device is fitted with a magnet, a copper coil, and a battery. Shaking movements force the magnet to move back and forth through the copper coil to generate a current, which charges the battery over a period of 12 minutes.
Twelve minutes of shaking might sound like a lot, but the idea is to incorporate this percussion shaker - which also includes a cavity filled with beads - Into everyday life for communities like those she visited in Kenya.
Early versions of the device have already been distributed, and kids have been using them to light their way home from school and to read and do homework after dark. The device is fitted with a USB port, so people can also plug their mobile phones in for an hour’s charge.
Kheterpal has set up a Kickstarter page to help fund the manufacture and distribution of the Spark device.