In the future, you can stop getting up to turn on the lights.
And at CEATEC, the future is now.
Panasonic has just unveiled a wireless and battery-less switch that allows you to control the lighting in a room from practically anywhere. In essence, the new switch houses a power generator that is capable of detecting motion and turning it into electricity. In a demo video Panasonic released, a user could activate the switch by sitting in a chair, whereupon the user’s computer, table light, and any other connected device would be triggered to turn on.
Anything from lights to fans to music could be connected to the switch, and thereby activated by nothing more than your movement. Moreover, because the switch is wireless, it shouldn’t require any particularly complicated setup, unlike many other smart home solutions.
In some sense, Panasonic’s latest offering works somewhat like a universal switch, one with the added benefit of being completely mobile and capable of being placed and triggered anywhere and by anything. As Panasonic explains, “This maintenance-free switch enables simultaneous communication with multiple terminals. It generates electricity in itself and performs wireless communication with a single touch.”
We have yet to hear any news on whether or not Panasonic will be debuting any new products to directly integrate with the new switch, and the switch itself is still in a demo phase. But it seems more than likely that the technology could be integrated into Panasonic releases in the future, and made to be compatible with a host of other home products.
So start getting excited, friends. You may soon be able to bid your days of fumbling about for a light switch in the dark adieu for good.
