Lucy: Bring back natural lighting into your room

Many of us live in homes or work in offices that are confined enough not to be reached by direct sunlight. It can affect many aspects of our daily lives, such as productivity and overall well-being. Numbers speak that over 90 percent of our time is spent indoors, and as a result we don’t get enough sunlight. A clever solution has been developed to work around the problem of lack of natural lighting in our homes and offices. It’s called Lucy, a spherical robot that easily takes the Sun’s natural illumination to our rooms without the need for additional energy. It’s a proven ancient concept incorporated into a modern, smart device that you can take anywhere.

Starting with the design, Lucy looks simple, yet there is more than what meets the eye. It’s internals are engineered to take advantage of abundant sunlight and bring natural illumination to any confined space. A smart mirror mechanism driven by two electric, solar-powered motors is what makes the magic possible – it calculates the exact position of the Sun relative to itself, and a sensor array redirects the directly gathered sunlight into your desired lighting destination. An advanced algorithm calculates the right angle for the light to bounce at whichever direction you want it to give light to. The algorithm is also responsible for tracking the natural movement of the Sun during the day, and adjust the position of the array to gather as much light as possible.

Lucy is self-sustaining, with its electrical components being driven entirely by solar power. Since it sits outside, it gathers natural light as well as harnesses solar energy to run the motors that continuously maintain the direction of sunlight to your room. It’s made to be weather-proof with its spherical glass enclosure protecting all its internal components. It’s also designed to work even in cloudy days and even in indoor spaces as long as there’s sunlight to work with.

The sensor array is equipped with a flat mirror, which is responsible for directing sunlight into a room. Unlike parabolic mirrors such as ones found in magnifying glasses, the mirror inside Lucy doesn’t reflect concentrated heat that tends to burn things upon contact. Instead, the flat mirror only gathers and redirects natural lighting much like you would expect from opening a window that faces sunlight. It’s designed to deliver a maximum of 10,000 lumens of brightness – a direct equivalent to lighting up 13 conventional light bulbs.

In spaces where natural lighting is nonexistent or just inadequate, Lucy is a boon for bringing sunlight without the expense of additional power. It’s a simple yet clever solution that eliminates the use of several light bulbs, saving money and energy at the same time while letting you reap the benefits of a naturally-lit home or working environment.