Shoe-mounted lever could power artificial heart pumps

PediPower--Courtesy of Rice University

Students at Rice University have created a shoe-mounted gadget that uses the wearer's own motion to generate energy needed to operate medical devices. A lever attaches to the heel of the wearer's shoe and, with each foot strike, the lever compresses and generates power that's stored in a portable battery pack. Cameron Industries, a Houston-based oilfield equipment manufacturer that initiated the project, partnered with the Texas Heart Institute to create a new generation of artificial heart pumps, and the students' PediPower shoes, as they're called, could ultimately play a part. Story