Google has issued a challenge to ambitious developers: Create a device that generates around 40 times more power than the typical 15-inch laptop but is no larger in size.
Giving a $1 million prize incentive, Google bets a smaller, stronger power inverter can be invented in the next 18 months, VentureBeat reported. The Mountain View, Calif.-based tech giant has teamed up with the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers Power Electronics Society for the "Littlebox Challenge."
Inverters take direct current electrical energy and convert it into alternating current to be used in homes, businesses and elsewhere. Google envisions a device no bigger than a laptop that can generate as much as 2,000 watts of AC electrical power.
"The problem is household inverters are too big--roughly the size of a picnic cooler. Making them smaller would enable more solar-powered homes, more efficient distributed electrical grids, and could help bring electricity to the most remote parts of the planet," said the challenge promotion.
"That's where you come in: figure out how to shrink an inverter down to something smaller than a small laptop (a reduction of >10X in volume) and smaller than everyone else, and you'll win a million dollars (and help revolutionize electricity for the next century)."
Developers can register for the challenge and find a competition timeline on the Little Box Challenge website. The application deadline is Sept. 30, 2014, and a grand prize winner is expected to be announced sometime in January 2016.
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