As well as being the best looking solar gadget, this is also the best solar gadget for bludgeoning someone's head. I mean, Jesus, this thing SCREAMS murder.

JimmyShakerDay

What really need to happen is TRUE tree'ness. REal plants lean TOWARDS the sun. THis would RULE.

Stacky Botrus

Or a cheapo version made of plastic is available in Walmart for the masses...

Brentis

It would be great to plant rows of life size ones of these in urban settings to power street lamps and such.

JackHoliday

@thegadgeteer: i think you deserve a star swap with the guy above you.

Paradise

@TheAdAgency: I was wondering if you could use material that will contract when cool, so as the sun moves, the shadow it casts would make the material bend the cell to the light.

Git Em SteveDave displays attention-grabbing vanity

Bad thing about 'concepts'

1) They never come about until at least 2-10 years down the road.

2)If and when they ever do come out, they cost a pretty penny...or two.

Dang that looks amazing though.

Jon B.

This is brilliant. I can see this being sold at the MOMA store. I'm actually kind of shocked she didn't go straight to them with the idea. (after patenting it, and making sure she gets a hefty chunk of the profits, of course)

lpranal

oh wow i do want! coolest looking charger evaR!

graphx

Build me a light sensitive version with moving limbs so the leaves follow the sun and I'll be more impressed.

TheAdAgency

These concepts piss me off...that thing is so rad but I know it will never be made or if it is I could never afford it.

ePod

Put it on the second floor and smugness loses.

thegadgeteer

Yes, cause nothing says, "break into my house" like all your best gadgets sitting on or near the windowsill under a just as stealable tech tree.

Hectorvex

Buy me some MOM!

Mike

Very nice design and would be great for the Blackberry, iPhone,... at the office. Juice up while you work.

Frost71

A - the leaves should track light, like TheAdAgency suggests.
B - that's alot of force to be placed on a simple headphone jack.
C - this thing would have to be huge to work

Gann

@JimmyShakerDay: I think the fact that it does scream murder makes me want it all the more.....

It screams murder then stabs your best friend in the face while you watch.

badass.

Jimbuck

@JackHoliday: "It would be great to plant rows of life size ones of these in urban settings to power street lamps and such. "

I don't think cuttin trees to make room for this would be very beneficial to the whole "environmental" aspect of this.

dman0586

Just use a different connector please?

There's a reason why they aren't used for power anymore.

strider_mt2k

WOW! Now that is a beautiful device. I want one although I'm sure it will be pricey.

tubsdouglas

Looks like it has less chance of dying than my bonzi tree.

trendspotter

I wouldn't even care if it worked, I still want one, cuz it looks like a small and horrifying reminder of what our future will look like.

A solar-powered memorial dedicated to the long-lost tree.

Kaiser-Machead on the Edge

@strider_mt2k: What reason is that? o.o

And like everyone else before: This thing looks really, really nice.

Reilaos~

I WANT ONE!!!

mrpedenman

@lpranal: Yes, because the center of the world is S.F.

Great looking product, love the idea of the plant like reflex to bend towards light (metioned above).

rrogahn

that thing is BAD-ASS. Man, I want that. Damn you concept land, I want reality!

gloveofpower

yeah yeah yeah, copy Ross Lovegrove why don't you!!!

Except the Ross Lovegrove ones are full size and MUCH better looking!

[www.inhabitat.com]

ecobore

Erh. I'm stupid, there are 54 panels, not just one so total power is 0.24 * 54 = 12.94 W. This might just work after all. Nice!

Mikael

Cool concept, but all the windows in my house capable of getting enough light to power this are already filled with real plants. If they developed this to a larger size, I can see it being used on rooftops in place of ordinary solar cells to create a pleasurable, relaxing space that also serves a purpose.
@Kaiser-Machead on the Edge: Thats so depressing and I fear so true.

Curves

!GEEK ALERT!

Righto, time to see if this would actually work:

Each solar panel seems to be 1" squared = 2.54^2 cm^2 = 6.4*10^-4 m^2

Ideally you can get 1020 W/m^2 of power from the sun at sea level at the equator, coupled with an approximate efficiency of 0.35 (the best panels recently set a new record at just over 0.4) we get:

P = 1000 * 0.35 * 6.4 * 10 ^ -4 = 0.24 W

The iPhone needs at least 5V @ 100 mA (standard USB power) to charge = 0.5W

Fail. Sorry to ruin it for everyone, I'd love to see one of those myself :/

Mikael

It would probably take most of the energy it creates to move all the little motors that would be required to move the cells. Imagine that thing with 54 little motors, that a spun up that the same time.

Lodlaiden_

That is gorgeous. Great start to solar powering your house (link to ebooks), which is on my list for accomplishing by 2015...

tiffanyrules

@tiffanyrules:

isnt the world supposed to end 2012 :(

mricyfire

@bosskev: No, they'd only freak if it started dropping little stainless steel seeds.

Lodlaiden_

@Curves: "...all the windows in my house capable of getting enough light to power this are already filled with real plants."

And shove this thing in amongst your plants and they all scream in Terminator-induced terror.

bosskev

Despite how freaking gorgeous this thing looks, I wonder how all the panels actually get enough light to be worthwhile. Some overlap the others, some "leaves" shade other "leaves". Are the panels double sided?

whiteknight

@Lodlaiden_: Not necessarily. The motors wouldn't constantly be moving. They can move in short and slow intervals, while remaining inactive for a period of time while still facing the sun. The panels will still collect adequate amounts of light as angle changes, so it would be set to move just within the period of time that it still gets it.

Kaiser-Machead on the Edge

@rrogahn: "...because the center of the world is S.F."

Yes. Yes, it is. Thanks for noticing.

bosskev

@bosskev: Plantlife doesn't share our fears and paranoia. If they sensed an unnatural abomination amongst them, they'd do what any normal photosynthetic being would do.

Start a collective tropism-of-death hold and stifle the shit out of it.

Kaiser-Machead on the Edge

@bosskev: I have learned my lesson about mixing electronics and plants. While watering plants is good, watering electronics is not. (My X got a new receiver this way.)

Curves

@Kaiser-Machead on the Edge: "If they sensed an unnatural abomination amongst them, they'd do what any normal photosynthetic being would do. Start a collective tropism-of-death hold and stifle the shit out of it. "

So...photosynthetic plantlife = fundamentalist religion?

bosskev

Looks beautiful! I want.

chrstphr

@rrogahn: Last time I checked, the MOMA is in NYC. SFMOMA is in san fran.

ericisshort

me wants!

Neone

Learn something new everyday, should get out of the office more I guess.

rrogahn

@rrogahn: MOMA has several stores, including new york and tokyo: [www.moma.org]

@ecobore: which one's "better" is kind of up to personal taste, but that design's meant for a certain purpose and a certain space- i.e. outdoors. Especially when designing for something solar powered, the setting Has to be taken in - both aesthetically and functionally. BOTH are "copied" from nature, but neither is any more of a "copy" of each other, any more than a hang glider is a copy of a 747

I think it's cool that this actually solves problems, in an aesthetically pleasing form that is derived from it's function. I'd LOVE to to be able to put this on my coffee table, and charge my iphone there without cords. The other genius part is the fact that it could all be packed and shipped conveniently, and with less material, reducing the price and waste. The world could do with more minds like the one that created this.

lpranal

@Mikael: This IS a concept, remember? It's a design notion that has merit, if one takes into account the fact that solar cells are becoming more and more efficient. I remember first hearing about solar power in elementary/middle school in the late 80's and early 90's being around 10% efficient. I might be misremembering, so please correct me if I'm wrong, but by the time this concept, hypothetically, became a reality, would it not be reasonable to assume a higher efficiency rating?

I love the idea of solar power. I want as much solar power as I can squeeze onto the first house I build. And this little concept gadget is a neat way to make solar power more prevalent. Because solar cells aren't what most people call pretty.

On another note...would solar cells work indoors with incandescent/fluorescent lighting, similar to those cheapo calculators?

thegreyjedi

It won't be long before this shows up on Instructables. After all, since solar cells work when they are broken into small pieces, it's just a matter of sticking them onto one of those metal photos/cards trees I saw in a SkyMall catalog (I think).

MePerson

Looks nice design-wise, but I'm not so shure about usability.
Aren't those "leafs" too small?

Anyways, I'd love to have one of those to charge my stuff...

Bokusatsu_Tenshi

@ePod:
That is the first thing that came to my mind.
The second thing was that I could try to make something like this myself.
Then I combined the two thoughts in knowing that I cant make something like that nor afford the parts to make it.

thisisasignin

This looks amazing.

Xander