Chen Wei & Lu Yanxin’s unusual concept uses the swing to capture the kinetic energy generated by swinging people to power the light. The design is interesting and I could see this working well on a playground for kids with swinging providing the light to use when it’s dark. I wonder if the the swing itself would be slowed by the power generation equipment, though.

If the parts to grab the kinetic energy were too hard to move, it wouldn’t be much of a swing. The light also has a solar panel on top for supplemental energy collection, but the creators say that the storage of kinetic energy is much more efficient than solar power. I can also see this concept as being something nice for a backyard creating the light for outdoor play at night.

[via Yanko Design]

The video shows off a nifty typographic animation designed by Erik Loyer which lets the user move the Wii-mote to influence the rendering of the text. As the controller moves, the text moves to match the angle and velocity of the control.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

For his demonstration, entitled “Swing,” Loyer shakes his controller to the tune of a hip Kurt Elling tune. As the lyrics appear on screen, they swing and bounce rhythmically to the music. The video is a bit long, but you’ll get the idea pretty quickly.