Motorola and GuRu wireless, a company working on remote (over the air) charging solutions for smart devices, announced the start of a partnership yesterday in a press release joint. This initiative sees Motorola following in the footsteps of Xiaomi, which recently unveiled a concept for remote charging.
GuRu wireless aims to be the “global leader in customizable remote power solutions”. The company was founded in 2017 by a team of Caltech scientists and engineers with the goal of bringing "energy everywhere like WiFi".
The company has developed a system that charges devices remotely without the need to place them on some charging base, using millimeter wave (mmWave) integrated circuits.
Remote charging: the range increases more and more
The company says its RF Lensing solutions allow devices to be charged at distances of over 9 feet (30 meters) with a single transmitter. The system will be able to charge phones between 5W and 10W.
While Motorola hasn't revealed any details about a remote charging phone, this new partnership will undoubtedly lead to a concept that will be shown soon.
Remote charging: one of Tesla's "legacies"
Since when Nikola Tesla showed the public in 1890 that he could turn on fluorescent lamps disconnected from the grid only by using alternating electric fields, the idea of remote charging has been incorporated into several concepts, all under development before taking off in the coming years.
Remote charging is not just a practical matter. Several companies are studying “over the air” charging solutions to eliminate a huge plethora of electrical cables, among the main components of electronic waste.
The report Global E-waste Monitor 2020 found that the world has generated a record of 53,6 million tons of electronic waste last year. In the last 5 years it has grown by 21%, and shows no signs of slowing down.
Xiaomi also revealed earlier this year your own concept remote charging called "We Air". Generate 5 watts per device with a system consisting of 144 antennas.
Clearly some time will pass before we see remote charging in our homes: it is imperative that all safety standards are met before any concept arrives on the market.
