Harnessing power from thin air: Infosys Prize 2024 winner Shyam Gollakota’s vision for battery-free computing

Infosys Science Foundation 2024 winner Shyam Gollakota

Professor Shyam Gollakota, recipient of the Infosys Prize 2024 in Engineering and Computer Science, has been working on pioneering research in battery-free computing by harnessing ambient energy from environmental sources such as Wi-Fi and cellular signals. His work aims to develop devices capable of sensing their surroundings without relying on traditional power sources.

“For the past 12 years, I have been working on creating computers that don’t require batteries. These aren’t laptops, but devices that can actually sense the environment,” Gollakota told Moneycontrol in an interview.

He explained that while solar power is a common energy source, indoor environments lack sufficient sunlight. However, they are rich in Wi-Fi, cellular, and TV signals, which can be harvested to power small devices.

“We have shown that you can use your Wi-Fi router to harvest power,” he further said.

One achievement from his research is the development of a battery-free cellphone. This device features a microphone and speaker and operates by harvesting energy from ambient Wi-Fi signals, enabling users to make phone calls via platforms like Zoom.

Although the harvested energy is minimal, it is sufficient to power functions such as temperature sensors, cameras, and microphones.

Moreover, professor Gollakota's team has created battery-free devices that mimic dandelion seeds. These lightweight sensors can float in the wind for distances up to 100 meters. The innovation can be used for environmental monitoring in hazardous areas like regions prone to forest fires, he added.

Deploying battery-powered sensors in such environments is challenging and potentially dangerous. On the other hand, the dandelion-inspired sensors can be dispersed in large numbers from the air, therefore, providing a safer and efficient way of data collection.

The broader impact of this research is evident in applications such as smart cities and industrial monitoring.

Implementing large-scale sensor networks traditionally have challenges on the battery maintenance and replacement front. “It requires you to deploy sensors and power the sensors and you want to do it at a large scale and going and replacing batteries at a large scale is pretty challenging,” he added.

Meanwhile, in recognition of his research and technology translation across multiple engineering domains, Professor Gollakota was awarded the Infosys Prize in 2024. His work spans societally relevant areas, including smartphone-based affordable healthcare tools for low- and middle-income countries, battery-free computing and communication, and the augmentation of human auditory sensing with artificial intelligence.

Also, read: Indian mindset not oriented towards problem definition and solving: Infosys founder Narayana Murthy

On May 15, the Infosys Science Foundation lowered the upper age limit for the Infosys Prize winners to 40 years from 50, "to reward potential and recognise the promise of future achievement."