Today, people depend on electricity more than ever. It is tantamount to convenience and comfort. However, when we’re away from home, we don’t always have access to a power source to charge our devices. In Japan, it is a criminal offense, no matter how small amount, to use someone else’s electricity without permission. It was important to solve this charging problem for the i-ROAD ultra-compact electric vehicle, made to conveniently charge and move freely. As electric vehicles grow in popularity, this will also be a challenge, and our project could solve this problem.

We developed the Smile Lock Outlet, implementing a network of the devices around Tokyo over six months, and put unused electrical outlets to use so i-ROAD users could charge their batteries.

This IOT device with sensors measures electricity and sends information to the cloud, connecting to a server that verifies who used the power, when they used it, and how much they used.

It also helps i-ROAD users monitor the battery through an application. Moreover, it lets users check for availability among many networked outlets.

We also developed a reservation function, allowing users to check the availability of the networked outlets and reserve a charging station in advance.

The user would also be notified when the battery charging is completed. The Smile Lock Outlet attaches to existing sockets and lets landowners securely share electricity with anyone who needs it through an application.