Week 3: Exciting / Interesting Findings

One of the most surprising things that we found while doing market research was a more specific demographic for our original problem statement. When we first began on this project, we were expecting to find that our problem statement and tentative solution would be applicable to nearly anyone who carried a portable electronic device. However, as we quickly learned, simply harnessing the kinetic energy from walking wasn't enough. Instead, we found that a more plausible target demographic were concert- or festival-goers, who indicated that it was difficult to find a power source at concerts or festivals. We found that, not surprisingly, people tend to move a lot more during these events; and the amount of kinetic energy that could be harvested from their movements was much greater than that of walking. In the end, not having power at a concert proved to be a bigger problem than we foresaw.