This is the official public repository for the TURNER battery-free gaming console.
Figure 1. The battery-free TURNER console in action. Turning the crank enables weapon firing in DOOM while simultaneously generating energy to charge TURNER’s energy-storage capacitor. The capacitor’s charging state is shown by a small indicator at the top-right of the LCD panel. TURNER integrates solar energy harvesting, follows the form factor of a modern handheld game console, and features the standard “ABXY” button configuration. The current implementation weighs 509 g; the casing measures 24 cm × 14 cm × 3 cm, and the crank measures 2 cm × 6.5 cm × 2 cm.
Battery-free computer gaming offers a vision of sustainable interaction in which games run on hardware that does not require a battery, yet this approach introduces uncertainty due to frequent power failures. Rather than viewing these failures as limitations, this work examines how integrating energy harvesting with application design can encourage users to reimagine and work with such failures, thus shaping behaviour and supporting device use. We present TURNER, a state-of-the-art modular battery-free games console powered by a hand crank and solar cells, created as a research probe to study how energy harvesting mediates the relationship between power and interaction.
In a subsequent mixed-methods study (N = 60), we explored the influence of energy harvesting on gameplay. Findings show significant variations in harvesting strategies, with interviews surfacing strategies for creating applications that respond to and build on the patterns of system power failure, the ergonomics of energy harvesting, and the value of embedding energy generation into play. Our work offers insights for interactive, sustainable battery-free computers.
- /Hardware: This folder contains the source files for the hardware used in this project.
- /Software: The folder contains the software used in the TURNER console (including console firmware, apps, and logging software).
- /Data: This folder contains the data and data analysis scripts used in the TURNER user study.
- /Doc-images: This folder contains images of the TURNER console.
Figure 2. TURNER system implementation: (A) back of the COM50H5M81XLC transflective LCD screen; (B) logging module using an Espressif Systems ESP32 PICO Series microcontroller; (C) Central Processing Unit (CPU) module using an Ambiq Apollo4 MCU; (D) power management; (E) logging module battery; (F) solar module implemented around the Analog Devices LTC3129 Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) buck-boost energy harvester; (G) crank module; (H) 6V 1.5F Kyocera AVX-SCM supercapacitor (SCMR22H155PSBB0); (I) ambient light sensor; (J) energy module connection points; (K) “ABXY” buttons; (L) solar panel connection on the front of the system casing. Eight ExCellLight EXL10-4V170 high-performance solar cells (50 mm × 20 mm each) are deployed; (M) joystick; (N) Universal Serial Bus (USB) port; (O) left trigger button; (P) right trigger button. The battery is used only to power the logging module and during the battery-powered console configuration experimental condition.
The user study of TURNER employed a mixed-methods approach, combining console log data, questionnaire responses, and post-study interviews. The study was pre-registed at Open Science Framework (OSF).
A range of statistical tests were used to assess the significance of effects in our log and questionnaire data. Parametric tests were applied when assumptions of normality, from Shapiro-Wilk, and homoscedasticity, from Levene's tests, were met. To analyse differences among more than two groups, we used Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) for between-subjects designs and repeated-measures ANOVA for within-subjects designs when parametric assumptions held, and Kruskal–Wallis or Friedman tests when non-parametric, respectively. Significant results were followed by post-hoc pairwise comparisons using Tukey’s HSD (parametric) or Dunn’s test with Bonferroni correction (non-parametric). For comparisons between two groups, we used independent samples t-tests or Mann-Whitney U tests, as appropriate.
We analysed post-study interviews using inductive thematic analysis, following the six-phase guidance proposed by Braun and Clarke. Coding was inductive, with initial descriptive and in vivo codes generated through repeated engagement with participants’ responses. Codes were iteratively refined and grouped into broader patterns through multiple rounds of analysis.
The results of this project will be published in a peer-reviewed academic publication (from which all technical figures and most of the text in this file originate). Details of the publication are as follows.
- Authors and the project team: James Scott Broadhead, Jasper de Winkel, Alejandro Cabrerizo Martinez de La Puente, Himanshu Verma, Przemysław Pawełczak
- Publication title: Connecting Power and Play: Investigating Interactive Energy Harvesting in Battery-Free Gaming
Copyright (C) 2026 TU Delft Embedded Systems Group/Sustainable Systems Laboratory.
MIT License or otherwise specified. See license file for details.