The best part is this. When the transmitting end is energized, it doesn't emit electromagnetic waves outward, but simply creates a non-radiating magnetic field around it. This magnetic field is used to contact the receiving end and excite the receiving end's **** vibration, thus transmitting energy at the cost of very little consumption. In this technology, the strength of the magnetic field will be no more than similar to the strength of the Earth's magnetic field, and people will not have to worry about the adverse effects of this technology on their bodies and other devices.
When Marin demonstrated his results in 2007, the technology was able to achieve about 40 percent efficiency. That's acceptable in some settings, but people want to go further. The Intel researchers we just mentioned have increased transmission efficiency to 75 percent, and Marin's group recently claimed that they did 90 percent. That means an improvement to more than double the original between one year!
While the results are impressive, there's still plenty of room for improvement, too. The next step is expected to be to reduce the size of the transmitter and receiver while increasing transmission efficiency, and ultimately to realize the goal of having a receiver built into power-using devices.
Imagine what this could mean for your life. We'll be able to place appliances exactly where we need them, without having to think about whether or not there's an outlet nearby; we won't have to think about how to run wires when we're decorating a room; small electronic devices like laptops and cell phones will always have their batteries fully charged; and robots will be able to run around the room without having to find a place to recharge after a while... ...that day may soon come. There are already a few prototypes on the market using this technology, and it's only a matter of time before it becomes widely available.