Added: 2 years ago
From: TEDtalksDirector
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  • Wow he's nervous!

  • This is amazing and I have no idea why this hasen't been widely implemented yet.

  • Don't the two coils need to be lined up in order to conduct to each other? Wouldn't that make this technology basically pointless except for static hardware such as desktop PCs or parked cars?

  • they didn't come up with shit, anyone that has a basic knowledge of a transformer unit knows that this is nothing but a stolen idea which is going to a dead end. They could reach a distance of 100 meters if they used big enough coils, that's not a wireless transfer because the losses "energy to efficiency" is higher then 50%. This fake "wireless transfer" has been used for 100 years inside every transformer, lowering volts from higher to lower values, ideal use because of the losses

  • @lifemetall The theories aren't new but the use of it are. Like, you wouldn't bitch about BLT sandwiches because ham sandwiches already existed.

  • @elmstfreddie no, your comparison is wrong. I would bitch if someone would reintroduce ham sandwich as an original idea. And this is NOT a theory and the USE of it isn't new either, Opening most devices you will find the use of coils in a device called transformer, mobile phone chargers work on that principle for example

  • @lifemetall Yes I am well aware of transformers and their function. If this is so uncreative, why is it the first time I've seen it being used for wireless technology? And yeah argue all you want that technically they already work that way, but what I saw in this video was a new use of transformers I've personally never seen before and I'm sure many others haven't.

  • @elmstfreddie well OFC many haven't seen it before, we aren't all electricians.Reason why this is starting to be used now is because creators of these devices started ignoring the fact that coil wireless transfer has enormous loses in power to effectiveness ratio.. I strongly appose this because this is not what nikola tesla had in mind when he said "one day electricity will be transferred wirelessly", if we accept this we will stop working towards REAL wireless transfer

  • I need this now.

  • In Frankenstein they got electricity out of the air cause by lightning and that was written hundreds of years ago but don't see people trying to utilize that is it possible to get enough electricity from that which is already in the air without having to produce it?

  • @hydrolito Lightning strikes for such a short amount of time... it's like having a water pipe hooked up to your shower, and expecting to get a shower from it by throwing a bucket of water at the other end.

  • I want it NOOOOW!

  • i want this in my house now! When does the WiTri fantasy become reality?

  • induction yuck! tesla didnt use induction for wireless energy transfer at wardenclyffe tower he used scalar waves (longitudinal waves) out of near field non electromagnetic waves with 99.9% efficiency

    there is a better way meyl (.) eu

    please listen what this guy is doing is nothing new

    imagine a world with wireless electricity everywhere it is possible spread the word

  • @randomsrvapps Oh wow, I have read a lot about tesla and never realized he wasn't using induction.

  • @rathat48 I have studied his work and the work of others for many years honestly you should see what prof meyl has done. And I know tesla was using induction for the magnifying transmitter that's obvious he has to, but actual single wire (or earth) transmission is scalar you'll see what I mean if you watch meyl's videos, unlike pathetic john hutchison which I believe is fake. Please be open minded about this.

  • Get you Asian wife lushfmlk.info

  • For all we know, the US military might have been using this tech for years, because Tesla invented it, powered lightbulbs wirelessly from huge distances, and then on his death the US government took all his work and made it top secret.

  • i have been waiting for this for a while now. imagine no more extension cords, no lack of power points, possibly even electricity in places that are now way off the grid. I know it defeats the purpose, but imagine going camping in the bush and having power to heat water or for a radio without a generator. i think this will be awesome

  • It's cool,but as he said,Nikola Tesla came up with this ~100years ago.

  • @PhattyMo I think what he did was different, all the lamps in his new york lab were lit wirelessly actually. Induction transfer is something new though.

  • what I want to know is, what is the effect of this technology on devices that use magnetics to store data? Will a WiTricity transmitter that's strong enough to transmit energy at 8 feet efficiently be strong enough to corrupt data on my hard drive? Or will the fact that it only transfers energy to devices that have the same resonance mean there won't be an effect at all?

  • @romxxii Also the problem of will it interfer with radio, tv, cellphones, laptops, etc. Also can they do it without having significant loss of power over a long distance?

  • Cords under my desk? Hell no, apple macs only have 1 cord!

  • Tesla rules, Edison blows.

  • everyone, 50% is still better than wires you know?

  • Careful! Look what happened to Tesla.

  • @siggyuke what happened to tesla?

  • @grandexandi He was working on electricity sent like a radio wave, but when his backer realised he wouldn't be able to metre the electricity used, he withdrew his financial backing for the project which was then dismantled. Then Tesla's lab was destroyed & was ruined.

  • 3:31

  • future

  • i cant stop stumbling

  • Wireless power is used for factory automation. Look for "ABB WISA"

    regards, Thomas

  • That is such an interesting phenomenon.

  • Nikola Tesla from Croatia

    Marin Soljacic from Croatia

  • *Yugoslavia...

  • Nikola Tesla - Serb born in the Austro-Hungarian empire.

    Marin Soljačić - Croatian born in Yugoslavia.

    Both evidently had to move to USA in order to fully realize their talents.

  • wicked. so many uses i can think of it's not even funny! lol

    hell, get cordless portable heaters for homeless people :P

    I couldn't find out any sort of efficiency factors... is it more efficient than wires too? he was talking about efficiency for a long while at the beginning

  • shut up pansy

  • only 50% efficiency was what he mentioned at first, im assuming they didnt improve much upon it. does anyone know if the "powermat" device runs using this technology?

  • Amazing.

  • does some one know the efficiency of this mode of power transfer.... like how much of electricity dissipated is actually used...?

    do we still have to switch it on and off to save electricity ....

    regards,

    from INDIA

  • you should look into their website, they have more information about this.

  • @IdoCareForPeople

    not sure if this is what you meant, but in the video he said the first experiment was 50% efficient over a 2m distance

  • @IdoCareForPeople It may dissipate in heat waveform, sice the magnetic field it generates can ionize molecules near it and make them move. I think we still have to do that, but we may already have a detector of full battery or just a voice recognoicer to turn it off if we say it....maybe...just suggesting...

  • MORE MORE MORE

  • I want one!

  • The man did not continue to mention that nikola tesla did exactly what he just did in his flourescent light tube demonstrations to the public. If you don't believe me, wiki it. Tesla was a hundred years ahead of his time.

  • He did something extremely similar. Except his...you know...ended up shooting lightning bolts.

  • It's as Rhinis said. The difference is in this guy's solution being resonant technology, magnetic instead of electric and all that. It is not a small difference.

  • it's awesome

    no need for wires any more

  • um for those of you complaining about radiation pollution maybe you should watch the video first before posting.

  • There are conspiracies about this field but that said, the solution given by these MIT researchers is not great enough. In fact, Nikola Tesla intended to provide long distance wireless power transmission of infinite and also, free energy and was not about charging and any nonsense following that. This technology was already available so, although this seems new its not worth the time for TED talks. Especially, one have to do the TED ideas for them to come across with any importance.

  • i agree.

    and as for conspiracies, i know i'd rather not have even more weird electrical, microwave, electromagnetic, radiowave, infa red, radiation, ions, etc type crap flowing through my air and body ..we've barely touched the surface on the long term effects of most of these, and our environment is already packed full of them.

    when donald rumsfeld or similar is on tv telling us how 'great' and safe it is,we'll know its too late.

  • Then go move into a lead lined bunker and stay away from my high tech future.

  • OK

    goodbye cruel, horrible world !

    [climbs into lead bunker, crying]

  • lol. *waves*

  • Well, according to this presentation its very much like the magnetic field that the earth has...

  • Tesla never thought of a magnetic field. The technoligies involved are different from the usual electric field electricity. It is so far efficient for replacing a battery which makes it inetersting, it can replace wires that are meant to charge things other than provide direct full scale electricity. Besides technology always improve, so probably that efficiency would rise as the years go by. I'm sure during Tesla's times there were lots of conspiracy t.'s, and people who didn't want to believe

  • If I'm not mistaken, J.P.Morgan couldn't figured out how to charge people for usage of wireless power, and he stopped or bought project. But, that's mean that original project somewhere still exist. Tesla is....definitely my favorite scientist.

  • Absolutely J.P. Morgan put a stop to wireless power... And Tesla was awesome!

    Wardencliffe tower was in Colorado Springs, CO I heard it was for sale for $1.6M but I don't know if that's just the building and land, or if the tower is actually still there...

    The best part about it, was that you could harness electrical energy right out of the atmosphere during lightning storms!

  • I think a lot of techniques are taken by the army and thereby made top secret for the public. My question is ; is this secrecy still valid after so many years?

  • I think it's 15 years to declassify them. UWB was inventend long time ago ('40-'60), but only declassified in the '90.

  • thanks for the reply. Than it's now the time to prepare ourselfs for it , for those who are interested in this matter.

  • "Tesla was awesome!"

    That...he was. But his mistake was mentioning the word..."free" From there he had Edison slandering him and telling people that a/c currant was from the devil and it would drive people insane. I wonder why that isn't mentioned at all in our schools history books? My how dumb we've become! As far as "true history" goes, comparing Edison to Tesla is like comparing the Baghdad Battery to a solar panel.

  • If thats truly the case then J.P. Morgan deserves to burn in Hell. Inventing purely for capital gain is a terrible thing.

  • Welcome to the free market.

  • Welcome to the government subsidized market.

  • u ppl need to learn about Nikola Tesla..this is nothing...it took us 100 years to move ONE INCH closer to what tesla could do...not2mention wut he wouldve been able2do(power several square miles)if he wouldnt of been stopped by power hungry money handlers

  • Several square miles? ...He would have powered the entire globe with one goddamn tower if it hadn't been taken down.

  • The prospects of this tech are simply mind blowing....also I went to grade school with the MIT guy in the red shirt at 2:35 not surprised at all to see him in this field, no pun intended

  • Whoah funny. I'm sitting here literally tangled and obscured by wires from my Macbook, iphone, wireless headphones, lampshade, fan, PS3 & TV set - it's absolutely profound to think that in a few years tech will be powered without any of this stuff.

  • I bet parents would love this, it's the ultimate baby-proofing technology.

  • Fuck non-rechargeable batteries.

  • Had no idea this tech was already so far.... read about some experiments but that seems likes it's coming for consumers real soon.

  • It's 100 year old technology. For some reason nobody has done anything with it.

  • It's only 100 year old tech if you assume Tesla had it working. That isn't known. Even if he did, the FBI seized his stuff. Also they don't give out prestigious rewards for 100 year old technology.

  • Tesla was also working on "free" energy... I guess we will never know if he was successful or not.. and his inventions also gave birth to H.A.A.R.P.

  • A Tesla coil can transfer power just as far as this thing. I am totally unimpressed by this demo.

  • Link a demo of a Tesla coil?

  • It was quashed by JP Morgan when he figured out that the electricity produced by Tesla's device could not be metered for usage, hence no money.

  • So how about stolen power, who pays when somebody steals my wireless power, other than that, this sounds great !

  • Then it's probably also a wireless thief. But he will be arrested by a wireless police officer. And he will be put in a wireless jail

  • it has to be on exactly the same frequency, so probably you could sort of cipher it.

  • Well that's nice fearmongering.

  • This stuff works with magnetic fields, so how will it affect magnetic saving media? Like cassettes and hard drives.

  • Well, he demoed it by powering an iPod (among other things), and as you probably know, iPods utilize a tiny hard drive to store information. It seemed to be unharmed.

  • It's the same strength field as the planet. Are your hard drives erased by the north pole? No.

  • Why can't we adopt this???

  • That is so awesome, I hate having cords run everywhere. That is a great idea.

  • YES finally there will be no more charging my mac book pro !

  • hey bro my gf wants to know how long your battery stays charged? she says hers keeps dying after not too long.

  • I'm impressed, but what about cost?

  • I think i just had an orgasm!!!

    Common sense  FTW WIN

  • Hmm how big we can make these things? Like powering the whole factory. Does the magnetic field couse any disturbance or malfunction on machines? This invention is briliant.

  • He said in the intro that the gov. regulates the size of the field. Nicola Tesla was able to transfer wireless electricity over a mile if I remember right. But the guy who financially backed him owned the power company of the times, and realized that all this wireless electricity couldn't be tracked and lots of people would get it for free. So for the all mighty dollar he cast Tesla into ruin. Or something like that, I haven't really looked it up since college. So its up to the government.

  • remote controlled helicopters. they could stay in the air indefinitely.

  • well put almighty, i was bout to type that to tmtyler myself when i saw some1 beat me 2 it :P iluan666 u rock too, ur right this is about more than just being a "convenience" technology and could have some really positive impacts in a few area. they've currently been looking at stripping commercial aircraft of most of its heavy and complicated wiring as well(using normal wifi), greatly reducing weight and so giving design A LOT more flexibilty.'apparently'securit­y is not going to be a problem..

  • I wonder if you could set this up along major roads and run a public transport system with it.

  • i wonder if it would wipe a credit card or the memory in a computer... at least flash memory is getting better!

  • you all forgot about the car application, and also the wireless charging hub for all your applications in your house. I suppose in the future they could make a whole house in a magnetic field, and you just pay your subscription fee. The products don't have to charge automatically, you can click a button to start charging, and you still have your power on buttons

  • stupid!!

  • Its simply a transformer without the iron core. Even with heavy iron cores, transformers are not ideal. Needless to say, transmission efficiency of this 'invention' will be much poorer. I was really hoping he would reveal the power output of the RF generator in the demonstration.. lol.

    The only benefit of using such an invention would be to avoid cable clutter, but is that enough reason to sacrifice transmission efficiency?? Perfectly reasonable for medical use, but a TV??

  • I think that was just something easy and relatively cheap for him to get for a demo. Not that those things are cheap, but a lot less expensive (and more visually striking) than defibrillators.

  • I think we can all agree that the applications for this technology is quite limited. But his point in the presentation is that this technology can be used in all areas daily life.

    I don't think we should waste 50% (or even 5%) of energy just to avoid plugging in a simple cable.

  • How much energy do we lose by transmitting it through cables? Forgive my ignorance, I honestly don't know. I recall he said 50% was far less than we lost by using batteries, so he could at least use it in all areas of daily life in which we currently use batteries. That'd still cover quite a bit!

  • Cable losses for household appliances? So insignificant it's probably not worth measuring. Of course this can replace batteries. But that means the device must always be within this high frequency magnetic field, or else a battery is still necessary. Is that feasible?

  • For certain things, it is. Remote controls for your television comes to mind, I'm sure there are plenty of others.

  • unless your wires are made of a superconductor you allways loose a certain amount of energy.

    If you consider the cost of the tons of copper used to make wires (and the polution caused in the extraction proces) and the oil contained in the isolating materials arround them it may be better if we start reducing the use of wires.

  • Yes.. the 'certain amount' in this case is not substantial. Conduction losses in cables are only significant over long distances, not short cables.

    Erm.. the device used to create the magnetic field is a coil of copper wire. How else to produce and 'capture' the magnetic field? As such, the amount of copper used would be much more than just a simple electrical wire.

  • @iyiyiy12345 wow you really didnt get it. you think that the only thing this technology could do for us is that we wouldnt have to plug cables anymore? omg get the big picture: no wires (not only in our houses, but in the streets, everywhere), no batteries (no environmental issues) and a much more efficient way of transfering energy. And all of that for much less work and money. You really dont see the potential of that?!

  • @grandexandi

    Wouldn't you still need chords for information transfer? This thing doesn't send information, does it?

  • @xinlo huh? but wireless information has been a reality for quite some time now... i mean, radio, tv, phones... right now im sending this comment to youtube through my wireless internet connection

  • @grandexandi

    Yes but to send information you have to use a code and send bursts of energy. The way I see this technology is needing to warm up and such. I guess what I'm saying, witricity doesn't affect informational transfer...

    Eh, maybe I just have have my thoughts screwed up. I did, after all, say that first one at like 2 in the morning where I live...

  • Nice talk, although it is not the truth, at least I don`t believe so, Tesla`s tower was perfect and he actually did transfer electricity wirelessly, the tower was brought down by J.P. Morgan-Tesla`s financier, who turned down the project as soon as he knew that he could not charge for the electricity transfered by tesla`s tower. and all this time, scientists have been looking for a way to modify Tesla`s invention in a way that they can put a meter on it and charge for it.

  • What would have stopped him from charging for it? Low production costs don't necessarily mean low rates, look at the cell phone industry.

  • lol i had the same thoughts when i was 14 or so of why we cant make things wireless and use the magnetis fields???? maybe i shold be an inventor???

  • So you have good ideas. Awesome. A lot of people have good ideas. I think the key is figuring out how to do it, how to make it affordable, and how to make it small. That's what they've done here.

  • DO IT!!

    :)

  • Until wireless can get a better conductivity efficiency, it will be about laziness and comfort (like RFID cards), not about getting cheaper and cleaner energy. Until then, I will keep using cooper cable, as I still do for Ethernet networks.

  • Awesome. Totally Awesome

  • Its a pity that the earths magnetic field is relatively static or we could all use this system for free power. Wait one, Ive just had an idea .

  • Tesla was a true genius but he was not alone. How many other great ideas are sitting on the patent office shelves, just waiting for re-discovery?

  • The gold from the mines of king Solomon in Jordan is super conductive @room temperature. I ate dinner cooked on a free energy device "device" using this gold in Jordan....

  • I'm glad this stuff is FINALLY getting some publicity. I remember reading about Tesla's inventions and the "Tesla Effect" when I was 20 years younger. He was able to power florescent lights for some distance. Can't even imagine what life today would be like if he was funded rather ostracized for his crazy ideas of free international transmission of power. They should have given Tesla more credit as he did his successful test in 1893.

  • I agree. we're more than 100 years ahead of that now. We could of all been driving wirelessly powered electric cars by now :P

  • Really awesome....

  • Awesome!!!

  • wow the revolution in wireless electronics is before us

  • Awesome- glad to see Tesla's idea for wireless technology finally come to life in a mainstream kind of way (albeit it through a slightly different route).

    I agree with all the statements stating how revolutionary this is... I hope within the decade this is widespread, at least through the most industrialized countries. The kind of change and innovation that could come about through this is mind-blowing to me.

  • That`s how technological revolution starts. Go for it.

  • some of these TED talks are starting to try too hard to match some of the earlier, brilliant ones.

    Next month the guest speaker will discuss the powerful forces released when you drop a mento into a bottle of coke, and how this may replace the need for petroleum.

  • I dunno, this is pretty revolutionary. Tesla tried to come up with a way to do it but it never got to where consumers could use it. If we can use this in our cars and homes, it'll be pretty exciting.

  • Tesla's idea was to transfer the electricity through the earth though, rather than this idea where you create a magnetic field.

  • not necessarily, "The Tesla effect is the application of a type of electrical displacement, i.e., the passage of electrical energy through space and matter, other than and in addition to the development of a potential across a conductor."

    (Wiki)

    ".. to produce such a condition in it that an illuminating device could be moved and put anywhere, and that it is lighted, no matter where it is put and without being electrically connected to anything." Tesla

    It's all fascinating to me. :)

  • Oh yeah, I understand that, it's just Nicola Tesla had another idea to pass it through the earth. Unless my physics teacher was lying :3

  • I wouldn't use it if it's considerably less efficient than what it's trying to replace. I don't mind routing wires if it's 50% more efficient than wirelessly. Not only does it cost more for the rest of the parts (compared to wires), I can always just make a hole in the wall and run it down the cavity or cut a channel in the bricks to run wires down with something flush against the wall to cover.

  • It's more efficient than batteries, at least.

  • Yeah, It's a great idea for batteries, but TV's are a stupid example tbh. They're already going to be banning plasma screens in places because electricity usage, if you double the usage of an LCD you get closer Plasma screen usage. Wires shouldn't be replaced if the device uses a lot of power or is largely static, unless it makes it considerably easier. Also a reason why I try use wired networks over wireless (Less latency, more reliable, less prone to hacking, higher speed) if I can.

  • well its one step at a time.. they make it more and more efficient... getting to 50% efficiency is a lot.

    I myself investigate into this... was able to build one but for short distance and power only.... and yes.. there's a limited range to these things. And the farther the distance... the power require increase to the square if I remember correctly :-P

  • True, but most devices don't use anything like 120VAC, they use more like 5 - 12VDC. TV's/Monitors, etc not included.

    Also, you lose a lot of energy just from the transformers and those draw power constantly even when not charging or powering a device. It still could equate to a net power savings in the end ? I'm sure someone will do the math.

  • It depends on the driving forces behind the R&D. Which is the most profitable market?

  • The first prototype was 50% efficient. I'm sure their current model is more efficient.

  • he is a magician not a scientist.. the tv has a battery in it

  • its no big thing dude. it is electronic resonance, that is all it is. anyone who has been to engineering school will know this. These ppl are just beginning to make actual application for this phenomenon.

  • Making it applicable is kind of a big deal...

  • "think of what that could do for you"

    the idea of the car being charged by the mat does sound appealing, and is actually a quite sensible application. everything else sounds so frivolous. its potential would be best realised in the hands of a critical thinker.

  • The ghost of Tesla thinks "Durr, You're Quick"

  • wifi electricity???? brilliant

  • Very nice, how much?

  • really cool

  • It reminds me of a Robert Hienlein short story where the cars run off the energy in the atmosphere and they wouldn't break down but when people drove them and worried about them breaking down the cars would infact stop due to the persons energy of worry changing the energy rythems that the car was supposed to be taking from the atmosphere.

  • 'It's alive!'

  • I wondered if someone would follow Tesla work/idea. Cool video ★★★★★

    Katalyzt

  • But if they were to keep teaching magic in schools, magic would give science a run for it's money.

  • he starts off saying how bad batteries are....and then ends the presentation saying this technology could be used to charge your mobile phone batteries without you having to plug it in.....

    Um, isn't it just a less efficient way of charging your batteries then!!? Surely plugging directly into the mains is less wasteful of energy.

  • indeed it is, still theres a difference between a once used then discarded battery, and the rechargeable kind .

  • He was referring to the regular kind of batteries-not rechargable batteries!

  • Wouldn't NASA find this extremely valuable and applicable for at least a hundred instances? Considering his reference to the Earths magnetic field encompassing us. Could we use the Earths field to carry powers around? Just shooting blanks here people... I'm sure I just gave a MIT student an aneurysm. Can an aneurysm be stress induced? More deaths at Stanford... I will need legal advice... Am I liable for lack of education? Oops. John's on eternal recess, time for a real mascot.

  • Dude, dude, you're rambling again.

  • Up in space, energy is at a premium. You can't take much fuel with you and every watt of solar power requires big and heavy solar panels.

    Therefore a technology which wastes 50% of the energy would not be ideal for space.

    No doubt there would be some applications, but plain old cables are going to be around for a while.

    Of course, my comments here are probably going to have me branded by some of the nuts as a stooge of "Big Copper" or something. LOL

  • This might work great for small already wireless stuff such as phones. But big things such as television uses alot of energy. The energy loss is simply too big. But I don't doubt they'll work out something that fixes this. Its only in its early stages of development!

  • I've been waiting for this video since I read about it. Thank you for this and EVERY other one, TED!

  • From an article in Gizmag dated 8/20/09, entitled: Korean Electric Vehicle Solution - Online Electric Vehicle (OLEV) from KAIST... the OLEV picks up charge using a non-contact magnetic charging method (where a power source is placed underneath the road surface and power is wirelessly picked up on the vehicle itself) so it doesn't matter if the car is moving or parked, it still receives power... up to 80% power conveyance with a 1cm gap between the vehicle and the power line.

  • a 1cm gap? that's more of a cable car than an autonomous electric.

  • Did that demonstration look 1 cm to you? It can transmit several feet and the stronger the field the larger the distance.

  • was a response to a post about a korean version of this. he quoted an article saying the car korean model of car is powered by passing over power transmitting cables hidden in the road from a distance of 1cm.

  • ratholin, "more of a cable car than an autonomous electric", really? Come on, a cable cars route is restricted to the cable it's attached to. The OLEV's route is not constrained by anything other than its range. Need a battery boost? Drive over an area where the power source is placed (supposedly near intersections & places where your vehicle slows down).

  • Awesome... thank you!

  • So, you don't have to plug something in....you just have to be one foot from the thing that is plugged in, and the thing that is plugged in has to be fifty times the size of a normal plug in the wall. This is more convenient, how?

  • I wanna see the math involved here. I get the idea, i just wanna see how it works out on paper.