Greendix, the company that makes these nifty leaf-shaped solar panels has captured our attention yet again with something even cooler – the world’s first solar powered soccer ball! The Taiwan-based company unveiled photos of the ball, which looks just like a regular soccer ball except that the iconic black pentagonal patches have been replaced with solar cells, giving it an eye-catching, prismatic look. Even more interestingly, the company is developing the ball with motion-sensing technology in hopes that it will allow visually impaired people to play with it!

World’s First Solar Powered Soccer Ball at Greendix. Image by Greendix.

The solar powered ball’s panels power built-in motion sensors and an audio device which could potentially enable visually impaired people to play soccer/football – each time the prototype is kicked, it emits a tracking sound.

While we think the direction Greendix is moving with the ball is innovative, we’re interested to see if they’re also planning on making it so the ball can store energy to be used at a later time like some other soccer balls can. Such technology can be used by kids in developing nations as a safer alternative to kerosene lamps to power lighting so that they can study and read at night.

“The main goal of this project was to prove that solar panels can be integrated into any object that we interact with on a daily basis and to push the limits of what is possible with solar panels,” explained Joseph Lin from Greendix. No word yet on when the ball will be available for sale, but how great would it be to see these being used at the next World Cup?

Source: greenmuze.com.