Piezoelectric Tiles – Interactive LED tiles.

POWERleap harnesses the kinetic energy from foot traffic and transforms it to a flooring system that lights up with every step. Using piezoelectric materials (a smart material that generates electricity when compressed or bent), the energy generated from the piezos are stored in the battery used to power the LED tiles.

This project is so simple that I would love to see a soft textile version using simple Piezo transducers (or if you can get your hands on piezoelectric fabrics). If you hook up a piezo to an LED you can generate enough energy to light the LED (without a battery). Unfortunately, without additional circuitry, I think you may need a piezo per LED. There are also a number of flexible piezos to experiment with. If anyone has any experience with piezos and LEDs, please LMK.