Mobile Phones Without Battery Could Soon Be Powered By WI-FI

Having to charge your phone to send a message, or standing on a chair to get signal could soon be a thing of the past. 

US engineers recently developed technology known as 'ambient backscatter' that taps into Wi-Fi signals and transforms it into power - and have now created a prototype router. 

During trials, these so-called PoWiFi routers powered battery-free cameras 17ft (5 metres) away and did so without interfering with the homeowners' web speeds.

The technology was first showcased by researchers at Washington University in August but lead engineer Shyam Gollakota recently demonstrated the prototype router at the EmTech Digital conference.