Today, wireless charging is little more than a gimmick for high-end smartphones or pricey electric toothbrushes. But a new approach that can charge devices anywhere in a room could one day allow untethered factories where machinery is powered without cables. As the number of gadgets we use has steadily grown, so too has the number of cables and chargers cluttering up our living spaces. This has spurred growing interest in wireless charging systems, but the distances they work over are very short, and they still have to be plugged into an outlet. So, ultimately, they make little difference.

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This is only a prototype though, and considering the dramatic increase in efficiency between the first and second versions, this efficiency gap could be closed. A more pressing concern might be the cost and complexity of retrofitting buildings with massive aluminum plates in the walls.

Indeed, the researchers are working on both issues. “We’ve just developed a brand-new technique. Now we have to go figure out how to make it practical,” Sample told Scientific American.

Still, while this kind of seamless wireless charging won’t be ubiquitous in the near term, the technique could soon be used in niche situations, like charging cabinets for power tools, and ultimately, the researchers think it could be make the factories of the future cable-free.