 We had the ID Tech X with the Nikola Labs, so who are you? My name is Will Zell and I'm a founder and the CEO of Nikola Labs. So Nikola Labs, what's the name about? Yeah, so obviously we love Nikola Tesla. If you read Nikola Tesla's autobiography, he listed 11 ways in which his technology would revolutionize the world. Interestingly enough, 10 of those 11 ways have come to pass. The only one that hasn't is wireless power really making its way into being real and meaningful. And so we're a wireless power company, commercialized out of Ohio State University. And we felt that it was a good thing to do to honor one of the pioneers in wireless power technology. So this is wireless power, but is it different from like a cheap charger or something else? Yeah, it's significantly different from any other solution that's out there as far as the near field inductive or magnetic resonance. So we are good at capturing RF energy and converting it into direct current power. So it's RF to DC across multiple modes of application. So what is this, what are you showing here? Yeah, so this is actually the first application of our technology, which is a case that harvest energy that's transmitted from the phone itself. And so you have in any given phone a antenna that are transmitting over distance, whether to communicate with a Wi-Fi router or with a cell tower. Because of the small antenna transmitting over long distance, they are transmitting in almost an omnidirectional pattern. So Dr. Chi Chi Chen, who is the inventor of the technology, and also an expert when it comes to intended design, built this system that captures some of the radio frequency energy that is not needed if you will for communication purposes. So it captures the RF, it converts it into direct current without negatively impacting the transmission power and sensitivity of the device. How do you make sure that it doesn't negatively impact the transmission and the connectivity? So Wi-Fi 4G, 3G, what is it? Yeah, so it would do multiple bands, the LT and also the Wi-Fi bands. So we ran tests measuring the data rate transmission as the phone is being used. But even more importantly, we had that claim validated by SETCOM. And so they performed tests with the technology and validated our claim in and around of being able to harvest RF without negatively impacting the quality. So this is the case for the iPhone? Yeah, so this is the case for the iPhone 6S. So it goes in there and then what happens? So you would put it in here, it just slides in like anything else and you put a clip of top on to it and then you use it. So unlike battery cases where you have to recharge the battery, you have to remember to turn the battery on, turn it off, the case is actually very, very passive. So it's activated by the phone's own transmission and then shuts off when the phone is done transmitting. So the basic value as a person can go throughout their day with the case on it, it's a protective case as well and receive extra battery life through a recycling system for their phone. I mean, if you think about it from the perspective of it's recycling unused energy, wasted energy, that's ultimately what it's doing. So there's a billion smartphones sold every year now and they're just all they're wasting energy. So I say I use the term wasting energy delicately because it's not a design flaw of the antenna, it's a matter of physics, right? If you had a big antenna that was going over a short distance you could really do a focus transmission but in these cases of phones you have very small devices, very small antenna that have to transmit over far distances. So in order to establish good communication, the device company doesn't know how the orientation is going to be, how you're gonna be holding your phone, where you're gonna be in relation to the communications network. So they have to transmit omnidirectionally as a consequence of that and just the intended design, there's basically a reflective near field RF that is also created and that's what we capture. So it's not wasted energy per se that it's again I use that delicately. It's unused. It's unused, it's there to be captured and recycled while still enabling the user to have the same experience as far as no drop calls, no slower data rates. So how much power are you capturing? So it captures and then kind of trickle charges impulse charges that RF back into and converts it to DC and then back into the phone. So over the course of a day it kind of depends on how a person uses their phone but we've been able to consistently prove that up to 30% extra time can be given. And there's still a lot that we're actually learning about this technology and how it interacts with the phone itself and the power management system of the phone. And there is some variability in the way how people use it but we're going through actually another round of user tests right now and taking all that data, learning more and then hopefully driving this product to market. So how about here the IT Tech Act show that you speak with some potential partners and how about putting this in the phone, does that make any sense? Yeah, so it makes sense to put into the phone because actually there is a lot of art. How would it be in the phone? So you would ultimately have it in a particular relationship to where the antenna location is in the phone itself, which changes from- Is it at thickness, does it add something? No, it shouldn't have to but of course the biggest challenge with integrating into a device is cost and real estate available, right? So even the most minimal thickness, if you will, is still thickness, right? So the conversations that we've had with some of the device manufacturers that are out there are we have to drive the technology, obviously the cost of it down further and it can't take up much space and ultimately it's gotta be able to work across bands really across the world. So is it possible for it to be integrated into devices? Yes, that's our, obviously our eventual goal with it. We'll see though, it's like anything else, it's a journey, right? It's a process to get there. It's too bad you can't ask Tesla for any advice on how to do it, right? Yeah, exactly, right? So what kind of other things could you be doing, spin-offs out of this? Yeah, so if you look at the kind of core technology, the core engine behind this application, it is the efficient conversion of RF to DC. And part of the reason we're here at ID TechX is you have a significant number of wearable technology companies, all kinds of IoT related companies and power is a huge problem, right? We have these 21st century electronic devices made for mobility and yet we don't have really good 21st century powering solutions for them. And so that's what Nikola Labs is creating and we're using our core RF to DC engine to accomplish just that. And where are you based? We're based in the great state of Ohio. The technology was invented at the Ohio State University. We launched as a startup company last October and are building, there are a lot of great things happening in Columbus, Ohio, really across the state. So we're really proud to build this company in the state of Ohio. So what do you think about this ID TechX show? Oh, it's been, yeah, no, it's been great actually. I mean, it's, you know, the, as a startup, we're just now beginning to build relationships with potential customers. Being in an environment like this where there are so many around is great. So I think ID TechX team did a great job of organizing the event. The food was amazing, so that's always good. And no, nothing but a great opportunity. Want to thank Qualcomm. So we're actually in the Launchpad, which is sponsored by Qualcomm and is for startup companies basically. So really want to thank them for enabling this opportunity for us. Cool, looking forward to see this in the next one. Yeah, thank you. Yeah, we'll hopefully be there soon.