Power Harvesting: The Bat Hook Helping Special Ops 'Superheroes'

Power lines crisscross the skies, delivering electricity with the flip of a switch. But what happens when a soldier is outside, away from an electrical outlet, and unable to access electricity to power equipment or recharge batteries?

An engineer at an Air Force research lab in Dayton, Ohio, has figured out how to harness electricity from power lines via a system called RAPS. RAPS is a connecting device that's attached to the end of a long cable. When the device is thrown over a power line, a blade at the end pierces the power line and completes the circuit that brings electricity down to the soldier. And that can mean a lot in the desert or jungle.

"Research and development is an amazing field to work in and yes, it's fun," says mechanical designer Dave Coates. "Especially when you have a lot of people saying the task you've been given is impossible, and then you produce something like this."

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[labtvonline]

Thanks everyone for your comments - glad to see all the different thoughts on this. Since this is such a brief video we aren't able to include all the details we might like - but I'll definitely follow up and try to answer as many questions about this tech as possible.

-LabTV

[raoul4]

So basically you damage the distribution lines and steal electrical power.

[hoboX10]

I'm pretty sure if the police saw you doing this they would arrest you.

[MrSingleJack]

I'm worried this video will get someone killed -- some poor hapless Darwin Award runner-up will try it, explode him(her)self and win the grand prize.

[clintdelicious]

@hoboX10 Yea I can imagine a group of armed soldiers charging up their equipment using this and a police officer stopping his car nearby, getting out and demanding that they all lay down their weapons so that he can arrest them all. That would definitely 100% work, soldiers always abide by the law no matter what hostile country that they are in. They may be engaged in espionage behind enemy lines, but when a native policeman comes over they know they must respect the law and hand themselves in..

[clintdelicious]

@raoul4 In a life and death situation where you need the power I think they wouldn't be too bothered about stripping a tiny, razor thin slice of the insulation away from the wire

[blkwizzard50]

this was made back in 1901 lol during tesla and edison.....

[Drebln893]

How do i take it down??? O_o

[Drebln893]

@Superabound1013 ...lol, you never know

[errorlogic]

congrats in advance for your darwin award

(your relatives can use it for decoration after you tried this thing the first time on a high voltage cable :-)

[egnost]

And how do I get the device back once I hang it on the wires?

[Waldo120]

So it can only be used for 220VAC, but it's meant for when the spec ops are in remote areas where the voltage is huge in order to transmit well? If you're somewhere where it's already 220, then you have access to an outlet.

In order for this to be functional they would have to make the system able to step down any voltage.

[itsadeadmansparty]

i was wondering how to steal power