Engineering:Soccket
SOCCKET was a soccer ball that harnesses and stores energy from play for later use as a portable power source in resource-poor areas.[1][2] It was the flagship product of Uncharted Play, Incorporated (now Uncharted Power).[3]
History
Jessica Lin, Julia Silverman, Jessica O. Matthews, Hemali Thakkar, who were at the time undergraduates at Harvard University, and Aviva Presser, who was a Harvard graduate student at the time, were the inventors listed on the initial patent. Prototypes of the ball first appeared in the media in early 2010.[4][5] The mass-produced version of the ball is the brainchild of Uncharted Play, Inc.—a social enterprise founded by two of the original inventors, Jessica O. Matthews and Julia C. Silverman.[3][6] According to Engineering for Change, the product was discontinued in 2016.[7] Uncharted, the company which made it, led as of 2021 by Jessica O. Matthews, no longer features the product on their website, but notes that the company initially worked on "energy-generating play products" before shifting to other areas.[8]
Media reaction
The SOCCKET scored on the "Highbrow" and "Brilliant" quadrant of New York's "Approval Matrix" for the week of February 8, 2010.[4]
It has been reported to have broken quickly after the first use by some recipients.[9][10] By 2016, production of Soccket had ceased, and Uncharted Play shifted its focus toward broader renewable energy infrastructure projects under the name Uncharted Power.[11]
References
- ↑ Whittle, Rich (27 April 2010). "Cool Invention: the sOccket". Business Exchange. Bloomberg Business. http://bx.businessweek.com/entrepreneurship/view?url=http://www.business-opportunities.biz/2010/04/27/cool-invention-the-soccket/.
- ↑ "Soccer ball turns into lamp". CNN Live. 6 July 2010. http://edition.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/living/2010/06/18/nr.the.big.i.soccket.cnn.html.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Clinton Global Initiative University 2011". http://www.soccket.com/media-gallery/clinton-global-initiative/.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "The Approval Matrix: Week of February 8, 2010". New York. 31 January 2010. http://nymag.com/arts/all/approvalmatrix/63394/.
- ↑ Witkin, Jim (26 January 2010). "Using Soccer to Supplant Kerosene Use". The New York Times. http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/26/using-soccer-to-supplant-kerosene-use/.
- ↑ Bolat, John. "Soccer Live". https://socapro.com.
- ↑ "Soccket" (in en-US). https://www.engineeringforchange.org/solutions/product/soccket/.
- ↑ "About" (in en). https://www.uncharted.city/about.
- ↑ "Impoverished kids love the soccer ball that powers a lamp — until it breaks". Public Radio International. Apr 8, 2014. http://www.pri.org/stories/2014-04-08/impoverished-kids-love-soccer-ball-powers-lamp-until-it-breaks. Retrieved Apr 8, 2014.
- ↑ bio, See full. "Uncharted Play responds to Soccket quality concerns" (in en). https://www.cnet.com/culture/uncharted-play-responds-to-soccket-quality-concerns/.
- ↑ "Power Outage, Five Years Later | Magazine | The Harvard Crimson". https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2019/11/14/soccket-ball/.
Further reading
- Boyd, Clark (18 February 2010). "sOccket: Soccer Ball by Day, Light by Night". Discovery News. Discovery. http://news.discovery.com/tech/soccket-soccer-ball-by-day-light-by-night.html.
- "Coming soon: A football that powers cell phone". Economic Times. 6 July 2010. http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2010-07-06/news/27619270_1_cell-phone-torch-light.
- VanHemert, Kyle (12 June 2010). "A Soccer Ball To Light Up Developing Nations". Gizmodo. https://gizmodo.com/5561974/kick-this-soccer-ball-around-for-some-light.
- Trainer, Mark (7 October 2014). "Soccer ball by day, reading light by night". ShareAmerica. https://share.america.gov/soccer-ball-day-reading-light-night-2/.
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