Bioengineers from the University of Auckland have developed cheap, lightweight rubber power generators that could harvest power if embedded in shoes.

The generators are built with dielectric elastomer generator technology that uses the movements of a flexible, non-conductive material to build up charge in attached electrodes.

A single 110-millimeter-wide, plunger-shaped generator is capable of producing 10 milliwatts of power. The researchers say that the flexible, integrated rubber components are more easily embedded in clothing than existing bulky, heavy dielectric elastomer generators.

Ref.: Thomas G. McKay et al., Soft generators using dielectric elastomers, Applied Physics Letters, April 5, 2011