Charger-seeking devices

There used to be an experimental automaton called a Testudo which gradually moved round in a circle in the dark, would move towards a light, avoid obstacles by backing away and turning after contact, back away from a light if it came too close, but crucially, when its battery was low it would go all the way towards the light and encounter a socket for recharging. This was over half a century ago.

Back to today. A laptop sits on a desk, a centimetre from its charger, unattended. After a while, the battery completely runs down. A mobile 'phone or a PDA has exactly the same problem. These devices are technologically inconceivably more advanced than the Testudo, yet they just sit there and let themselves go 'plink' when their batteries run down. This is extremely silly.

Therefore, i propose that battery-operated rechargeable devices have a Testudo mode which they enter once the battery level becomes critical. A mobile 'phone, for example, has the ability to detect a charger socket in the vicinity, proceeds to sprout wheels, move towards it, line itself up and plug in. It could recognise it in various ways - a particular radio frequency, an LED emitting a specific wavelength of light or even a distinctive shape such as that of a USB socket. In order to facilitate this, the relevant sockets are placed a given height above the floor which is equivalent to the height of the charger. Attachments are available for ordinary power sockets to provide the relevant facility in a room which is otherwise not available there.

This would of course mean that batteries would not run as low before charging was required because of this mode. However, an additional advantage is that smaller devices would be easier to find - they would automatically seek out power outlets of one kind or another.