Flexible batteries may mean foldable game systems

Game systems and cell phones are shrinking each year. Look at Milton-Bradley’s Microvision, the first handhled game system with removable cartridges. Released in 1979, it was about a foot tall and several inches thick. Compare that to the tiny GamBoy Micro,

A recent development by researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute could mean even thinner, lighter and longer-lasting handhelds. It’s a bendable battery that, according to an article by Yahoo! News, “looks like a piece of paper and can be bent or twisted, trimmed with scissors or molded into any shape needed.”

Part of the problem with batteries is that the push to make smaller and lighter objects means less space for batteries. With a paper thin battery, many could be stacked on top of each other or woven between components instead of requiring a bulky and inconvenient modular block of space.

The battery has taken 18 months and two teams to develop, utilizing paper infused with an electrolyte and carbon nanotubes. it’s still in a prototype phase and not quite ready for commercial use. The biggest hurdle is making the papery power supply more affordable since carbon nanotubes are uber expensive. The next hurdle is to make them more efficient than standard batteries.

One it is developed, just imagine the possibilities for game systems. How about Thinner, lighter and more ergonomic wireless controllers? Maybe a handheld system with a flexible screen? How about a game system you can literally fold like paper or slip into our text book? Heck, how about text books with interactive pages with education games built right in!?

Read [Yahoo! News]