The Battery Charger That's Good For You

Finally, a good reason to learn how to skip rope.

It's a common sign of geekery: if it weren't for our pushy parents, we would have spent all day in front of computer or gaming console while we were young. Fast forward to adolescence or adulthood, and we pretty much enjoy our sedentary gadget-driven lifestyle without pesky authoritarian influences.

Not if Kyung Guk Lee has his way, though. The designer recently came up with the e-rope, a concept jump rope that tops up rechargeable AA batteries. This is clearly an evil attempt to get geeks everywhere to break some sweat, and introduce some exercise to their inactive lives.

Each handle holds one battery. As the user jumps rope, skipping his way to fitness, the batteries draw power from the kinetic energy. Once recharging is complete, the individual LEDs on each handle light up.

Kyung Guk Lee claims that it takes only 20 minutes to fully recharge the batteries. From our limited experience with hitting the gym however, we can easily say that sustaining an aerobic activity for that long will be nigh impossible for fitness neophytes. At least it will take a while for the e-rope to transition to prototype to market product—if at all, so we still have some couch-time left.

E-rope charges batteries as you jump.