Jessica Matthews
Jessica Matthews is the Founder and CEO of Uncharted Power, a renewable power startup company that harnesses energy from motion to create sustainable power systems for communities around the world. Jessica grew up in New York City as the child of Nigerian immigrants. During a visit to Nigeria when she was 17, she noticed the use of generators and kerosene lamps to provide electricity and lighting at night. She then looked for quieter and less polluting solutions, and invented “Soccket,” a soccer ball that captures and stores energy. From there, she created other energy-generating toys and devices before turning to invent new ways to create and store power on a larger, community or city-wide scale. Jessica is the named inventor on more than 10 patents and has been listed in Fortune magazine’s “Most Promising Women Entrepreneurs” and Inc. magazine’s “Top 30 under 30.”
Real World Application
- Jessica’s invention, Soccket, converts kinetic energy to stored (potential) energy. After an hour of active play, Soccket could power an 8-watt LED lamp for 3 hours. If you and your friends played with the Soccket soccer ball for two hours instead of one, how long could it power a 12-watt lamp?
- Fully charged, the Soccket can provide 72 hours of power for its LED light. That’s about 0.4 kilowatt-hour. (The energy equivalent of a ¾-cup serving of premium ice cream.) If the average home uses about 30 kilowatt-hours per day, how many fully charged Soccket balls would it take to power an average home for a week?
Group Discussion / Activity
- What would you like to ask Jessica that wasn’t covered in the video?
- Jessica shares the story of her cousins telling her she would get used to a noisy and smelly generator, which inspired her to want to invent something better. What do you think you would have done in that situation? List two things in your life that you’ve “just gotten used to” that you could work to change instead.
- Jessica talks about “infrastructure.” Infrastructure is at the heart of what makes a system work, like the power grid that sends electricity to your home or the road system that allows you to easily travel from place to place. As a class, or in small groups, think of something that is at the heart of what makes your classroom a functional space for teaching and learning. Brainstorm ideas that could make this infrastructure component better. Do your best to find a way for your idea to be an improvement that is positive for everyone in the class, including your teacher.
Video Project
- Create a video short: using the interview with Jessica and other images you find online about kinetic energy, make a 1-minute video that would excite other students about science and technology. Decide whether it is for kids your age or for younger students.
Invention Challenge
Invent something that solves a problem that other people don’t even notice.
- Explore It: Not every invention comes about because people can’t live without it. Inventors often think creatively beyond what exists to what could be, in order to improve lives or help people have fun. Think about some things in your life that don’t work the way you think they should, but that everyone else seems to ignore because they are used to them.
- Sketch It: Write a list of at least 3 things that need improving. Sketch solutions for 2 of the improvements on your list.
- Create It: Pick one of your solutions and build a prototype out of paper, cardboard, and tape that would work at larger scale. Focus on at least one aspect of the problem you identified that your invention improves upon.What made you notice this problem?
- Is there an easy solution? Or does it take a lot of hard work to come up with something?
- Are you focusing on function, safety, appearance, use, or some other feature?