Humavox RF Wireless-Charging Technology Aimed at Broad Array of Apps
by Michelle Maisto
A New Kind of Wireless Charging
Humavox isn’t a product company, CEO Omri Lachman makes clear. It’s a technology company that wants to enable product companies with great ideas, whatever the vertical market.
The Humavox Nest
The Humavox technology consists of a receiver, implanted in a device, and a transmitter, which sits in a physical charging station that can take any form. Humavox calls the charging station a Nest and is happy to offer possible Nest designs, or to let partners design them themselves.
Wireless Jewelry Box
Humavox shows off one Nest idea that it refers to as the “jewelry box” (though it looks more like a lunch pail with a plastic window). A user could drop several types of smart devices into the box, and the box is smart enough to recognize their different types of batteries and charge them all. Lachman said there’s a “handshake” that occurs when the two components acknowledge each other.
Various Nests
Another Nest the company shows off is a bowl, offering application possibilities that include a car’s cup holder. Lachman dropped two different fitness bands into the cup and they began charging together. A criticism of induction-based wireless charging is that things have to line up just so—a need that’s out of sync with people’s habits.
The Armrest Idea
Humavox also shows off a Nest roughly the size of a small but thick hard-bound book. There’s lid on the top and a window on the side. What if a Nest like this could slip inside a car’s armrest? Or an airplane’s?
Look Ma, No Cords
The Nest box can also be charged itself and then charge other devices while unplugged, making it ideal to bring when traveling.
The Receiver
Shown here is the receiver the technology depends on, sitting in the cup the fitness bands were charging in. If current wireless charging solutions “can’t fit in most smartphones,” said Lachman, “there’s no hope for things like hearing aids.”
The Wireless Consumer Device Market
Humavox technology will be in a hearing aid product set for launch in 2015, and the company is in talks with semiconductor companies, among others. Humavox hopes a variety of industries will “harness the technology.” Says Lachman, “Our job is to show how flexible the designs can be.”