As free as they make us, mobile phones still need to stay close to a power source. Soon that may change with "green" power.
Three Chilean students got the idea for a plant-powered device(装置) to charge their cellphones, while sitting in their school's outdoor courtyard during a break from exams, with dead mobile phones. Then, one of them had an "aha" moment.
“It occurred to Camila to say about plants, "said inventor Evelyn Aravena. "Why don't you have a socket, if there are so many plants? 'After that, we thought, why don't they have a charging outlet? Because there are so many plants and living things that have the potential to produce energy, why not? ' "
Their invention — a small biological circuit called E-Kaia - uses the energy plants to produce during photosynthesis(光合作用). A plant uses only a small part of that energy and the rest goes into the soil, and that's where the E-Kaia collects it. The device plugs into the ground and then into your phone.
"It's the most amazing project I've ever seen in my life, plain and simple. They brought this original model, and it worked — and that's when it all changed, at least from my personal point of view and I began to support them. " said Mauricio Cifuentes.
The device solved two problems for the engineering students — they needed an idea for a class project, and an outlet to plug in their phones.
"Looking for a place to charge the notebook, which had no power, and the mobile phones, we weren't able to find anything because all the other students were in the same state of madness trying to find a place to charge their devices," said Aravena.
But plants are everywhere, and the biocircuit makes the best of their excess(过多的) power.
The E-Kaia doesn't carry much charge but it's powerful enough to completely recharge a mobile phone in less than two hours.
The student inventors have applied for patents on their technology, and expect the E-Kaia to go on sale in December 2016.
1. How could the students get the "green" power idea?| A．By carrying out an experiment. |
| B．Just from an occasional thought. |
| C．With the support of their professors. |
| D．Enlightened(启发) by the information in a science book. |
| A．By using the energy during photosynthesis. | B．By using a small biological circuit. |
| C．By using the electricity stored in the device. | D．By using a device buried in the ground. |
| A．He intended to buy the patent. |
| B．The device was made in a rough way. |
| C．He showed great interest in the device. |
| D．He attempted to produce the device in large numbers. |
| A．A New Device to Change the World |
| B．Green Power - A New and Potential Source |
| C．Chilean Students Find A Green Way to Charge Phones |
| D．A New Device Invented by Chilean Students Will Be on Sale |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Since the 1970s，scientists have been searching for ways to link the brain with computers.Brain－computer interface (BCI) technology could help people with disabilities send commands to machines.
Recently，scientists showed a small vehicle directed by a person's thoughts.Jose Millan and Michele Tavella developed the system.Mr Tavella can even talk as he watches the vehicle and guides it with his thoughts.He said，“That's very，very easy.That's the simplest part we could say because moving one hand or the other is a very，very common task.There is no much work.It's very，very simple.” Mr Tavella is a researcher at the Federal Polytechnic School in Lausanne，Switzerland.In the laboratory，he can operate a wheelchair just by thinking about moving his left or right hand.
Professor Millan is the team leader.He says systems like those being developed in Lausanne and other places may be put into use in less than ten years.He said，“The brain－machine interface is a system that allows people suffering from physical disabilities to control devices.”
Our brain has billions of nerve cells.These send signals through the spinal cord (脊髓) to the muscles to give us the ability to move.But spinal cord injuries or other conditions can prevent these weak electrical signals from reaching the muscles.
The researchers designed a special cap for the user.This head cover captures (捕捉) the signals from the scalp (头皮) and redirects them to a computer.The computer interprets the signals and commands the motorized wheelchair.The wheelchair also has two cameras that identify (识别) objects in its path.
Professor Millan says scientists keep improving the computer software that identifies brain signals and turns them into simple commands.
1. The use of brain－computer interface technology means ________．| A．more work for the disabled |
| B．high expense for the disabled |
| C．more freedom for the disabled |
| D．better education for the disabled |
| A．boring | B．easy |
| C．useful | D．complex |
| A．Such a machine will only follow one person's guide. |
| B．A disabled person can only guide the machine by talking to it. |
| C．It is impossible for blind people to send commands to such a machine. |
| D．Disabled people have to wait several years to benefit from BCI technology. |
| A．Scientists. | B．Computer systems. |
| C．Brain signals. | D．Simple commands. |
【推荐2】Amy Maplethorpe, a first-year speech-language teacher at Raymond Ellis Primary School, used tennis balls, a hot glue gun, Mod Podge and a bit of paint to create two chairs that help students with sensory (感官的) problems.
According to the school’s Facebook page, which became very popular, the chairs provide a “different texture (质地) to improve sensory regulation (调控).”
Maplethorpe told ABC News that the chairs will service about 15 to 20 students. Children with sensory problems often have a hard time “dealing with sensory information”. Things, such as coats, blankets and Maplethorpe’s chairs, often comfort a student.
Maplethorpe was excited to create the chair after seeing something similar on a website, and she made some changes to the idea.
“I wanted to continue to help students with sensory problems at Ellis and provide a different kind of seat for the students,” she continued. “I was excited that this chair could help my students.’’
The two chairs are now in the school’s sensory room, which was created recently, according to headmaster, Beth Kiewicz.
“When a child’s sensory needs are met, we then can move on to their needs in study,” Kiewicz, who has led the school for six years, told ABC News.
Maplethorpe said the chairs have already made a difference for some of her students.
“Students have become more patient, and have followed directions, while waiting for activities,” she said.
1. What gave Maplethorpe the idea to create the tennis ball chair?| A．Service in the sensory room. |
| B．Chairs in the teachers’ office. |
| C．Something similar on a website. |
| D．Encouragement from the headmaster. |
| A．It helps students with sensory regulation. |
| B．It causes students to be more restless. |
| C．It improves students’ memory. |
| D．It makes students sleep well. |
| A．is not easy to make |
| B．has been proved helpful |
| C．can service more than 20 students |
| D．is the best way to treat sensory problems |
【推荐3】What if there was a kind of technology that could help someone with low or no vision increase their spatial (空间的) awareness? Eugene Choi, Raffu Khondaker, Irfan Nafi and Pranav Ravella founded Team Atheia and set out to do just that. The four teenagers are students at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Virginia, US.
“We noticed that the computer-vision field has gotten to a point where it could detect objects with really good accuracy and describe a scene just like a human would,” Choi told IEEE Spectrum magazine. “The immediate application we thought of was a visual aid for people with low or no vision.”
Since 2019, they had been attempting to make an assistive (辅助的) device in the form of a glove with a camera—but it failed. They realized that they lacked input from potential users. So they used Facebook to find people with vision problems and ask about their needs. Based on the feedback collected, the team scrapped the glove and started developing wrist- and head-worn devices and eventually a mobile app.
After spending hundreds of dollars of their own money and much experimentation，they finally had a working prototype (原型). By adopting the latest computer-vision models and machine learning techniques, the students’ app Atheia can accurately recognize, count and pinpoint (精准确定) objects in the user’s field of view. It can even answer open-ended questions about the person's environment, such as the shapes and sizes of objects or the time of day.
Their app’s data is processed locally on the mobile device instead of through a cloud service. This means they can fulfill user requests regardless of whether they have a cellular signal (蜂窝信号).“Through our testing, we realized how critical it was to serve our users no matter where they were,” Ravella told Congressional App Challenge. “It was an immense(极大的) challenge to convert our huge，heavy computer-vision models into something an iPhone could run. But thanks to Apple’s Neural Engine, it was possible—and worth it.”
Compared to other assistive devices for the blind, Atheia will charge its users an affordable monthly subscription (订阅) fee of around $10 (about 63.7 yuan), and it will be available only on iOS.
1. What do we know about Atheia?| A．It can remove physical barriers for people with no vision. |
| B．It can answer all questions raised by users. |
| C．It’s more expensive than other similar devices. |
| D．It can help the blind improve spatial awareness. |
| A．Adjusted. | B．Abandoned. | C．Adopted. | D．Upgraded. |
| A．They didn’t know the needs of their target users |
| B．They lacked the money to use the latest technology. |
| C．Their models were too big for an iPhone to run. |
| D．They found it difficult to popularize their product. |
| A．Ambitious and sociable. | B．Creative and humorous. |
| C．Intelligent and modest. | D．Innovative and determined. |
