4 Quotes by Lawrence Rome

We are working on parallel development of ergonomic backpacks for everyone from school children carrying heavy bags of books, a worldwide public health problem, to the normal backpack used to carry laptops, to hikers' backpacks to military and explorers. Everyone can benefit from a more ergonomic backpack.

Field researchers, for example, have to carry many replacement batteries to power their equipment, which take up a lot of weight and space in the pack. The Suspended-Load Backpack could help anyone with a need for power on the go, including researchers, soldiers, disaster relief workers or someone just looking to keep a mobile phone charged during a long trek.

As humans walk, they vault over their extended leg, causing the hip to rise five to seven centimeters on each step. Since the backpack is connected to the hip, it must be lifted five to seven centimeters. It is this vertical movement of the backpack that ultimately powers the electricity generation.

The beauty of the system is the weight you are carrying around with you anyway serves as the mass to drive power generation.