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Nikola Labs is a startup which is developing a technology to produce electricity from RF signals like Bluetooth & Wi Fi.
Their 1st product, an iPhone case, was showcased at the TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2015 after being selected as the wild card entry
by TechCrunch editors & the audience. The iPhone case has an RF harvesting antenna that captures ambient RF energy emitted by your phone.
The proprietary energy harvesting & conversion unit the company has developed is able to convert & reuse this energy into DC power for the phone. A full 90% of your mobile battery power is wasted by your phone in the process of producing cellphone signals. The Nikola Labs case reroutes this power back to the phone’s battery, in the process enhancing battery life by 30%.
Nikola Labs is kicking off its Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign for the iPhone case next month, & the device will be available by next year.
One of the hallmarks of a successful new device is how popular it is on crowdfunding platforms, & how much media attention the crowdfunding campaign gets. What does it say about Nikola Labs that their crowdfunding campaign is already a hit a month before it debuts on Kickstarter?
The technology for the RF harvesting circuit was developed as a research project at Ohio State University. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a case or device attached to the phone. Since it can send DC power back to the phone wirelessly, the potential applications are far more numerous.
The name, Nikola Labs, honors inventor & futurist Nikola Tesla, best known for his contributions to turning the concept of transmitting electricity through wires into reality.
Columbus, OH-based Nikola Labs was founded in Oct 2014 by Will Zell, John D. Bair, Flavio Lobato, & Rodolfo Bellesi. Zell is the company’s president & Bair is the chief engineer. Nikola Labs is supported by Ohio State University & Rev1 Ventures.
Image Credit: Nikola Labs
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