South Korea technology giants Samsung unveiled one of the simplest yet groundbreaking consumer products recently during the annual Consumers Electronic Show (CES) when they unveiled a new version of its ‘Eco Remote’ which as it name suggests, is very environmentally friendly. Get this, the remote doesn’t use the standard AA or AAA batteries but instead uses a rechargeable battery that is charged using solar panels on its back as well as radio waves from your home router!
As reported by The Verge, this 2022 version of the Eco Remote adds the ability to charge by “collecting routers’ radio waves and converting them to energy”. Such a technology has been around for awhile now but you don’t see it being used in many consumer products due to it being practical for only low-power devices. However, given how little energy TV remotes require to function, this is a really practical and environmental-friendly solution rather than using disposable batteries like in most remotes.
The 2022 version of Samsung’s Eco Remote.
Charging using radio waves is just one of the ways in which to keep the remote stay charged too as the Eco Remote can also be charged from both outdoor and indoor light and can even be charged conventionally via USB-C.
Samsung intends to ditch disposable batteries in its TV remotes with the introduction of this new Eco Remote which it claims can avoid 99 million discarded batteries over the course of 7 years. Furthermore, the company is also not resting on its laurels and has also explore other ways of self-charging the internal battery, including ‘harnessing the kinetic energy that’s created when the remote is shaken’ and ‘using the vibrational energy that’s created when the microphone picks up sounds’.
Awesome! What do you guys think of Samsung’s Eco Remote? Should more companies utilise this technology? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.
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