It sounds like something from a robot-ruled dystopic future, but the "Crowd Farm" is anything but.
It's a sub-flooring system of blocks that depress slightly when stepped on and convert the energy of a crowd into electricity. In a place like Grand Central Station you'd harness the power of a lot of stepping. You'd be able to light the building! Power trains!
Sadly, no. The MIT architecture students who hatched the idea suggest using all that energy to "[light] up a sign about energy."
So it doesn't produce much power, but it's just another example of the ubiquitous waste of kinetic energy and we like the spirit of innovation.
















 Otis knew before they did.
 Otis knew before they did.