What if you could have sunlight in every room in your home, regardless of its orientation? Solenica, a manufacturer of heliostats, made the SunnyBot robot to focus the sun’s rays and redirect them towards indoor areas that might otherwise be without daylight. Carrying 7000 lumens of sun rays, SunnyBot can bring light into an office, greenhouse, attic or even a basement, and ultimately reduce a home’s carbon footprint by one ton per year, according to the company. Solenica has launched a Kickstarter campaign to get support to bring its newest prototype to the market.
[vimeo width=”537″ height=”402″]http://vimeo.com/68476514[/vimeo]
Thanks to a fully automated intelligent optical positioning system, the robot rotates its mirror to follow the Sun as it moves across the sky. It redirects the light towards a previously established target, and uses optical sensors to analyze weather conditions and automatically turn on, off or go into standby mode. The robot is powered by built-in solar cells and can store excess energy in arechargeable battery that activates when it’s cloudy.
Besides the fact that it brings healthy sunlight into the living space, SunnyBot can also reduce one’s carbon footprint by a ton per year, according to the company. By adding simple gelatin filters over the mirror, users can keep the brightness but get rid of UV rays and warm infrareds.
By raising necessary funds through the Kickstarter campaign, researchers at Solenica will get the chance to improve the latest SunnyBot prototype by producing more durable plastics which supports the structure of the mirror, using injection molding instead of standard enclosures and customizing the mirrors for higher reflectivity.
+ Solenica
Via Treehugger
