Battery-Free Game Boy

TLDR

ENGAGE is a battery‑free personal mobile gaming device that harvests energy from gamer actions and sunlight, aiming to enable continuous user attention despite frequent power failures and to address intermittent computing challenges in interactive play. The system employs custom hardware that harvests button‑press and solar energy, a mixed‑volatility memory architecture, and a power‑failure‑resilient Nintendo Game Boy emulator that tracks memory usage, decouples the game loop from the UI, and supports intermittent operation of classic Game Boy titles. The prototype demonstrates a viable battery‑free Game Boy emulator, providing a reference implementation and framework for sustainable IoT gaming that maintains continuous play even with intermittent power.

Abstract

We present ENGAGE, the first battery-free, personal mobile gaming device powered by energy harvested from the gamer actions and sunlight. Our design implements a power failure resilient Nintendo Game Boy emulator that can run off-the-shelf classic Game Boy games like Tetris or Super Mario Land. This emulator is capable of intermittent operation by tracking memory usage, avoiding the need for always checkpointing all volatile memory, and decouples the game loop from user interface mechanics allowing for restoration after power failure. We build custom hardware that harvests energy from gamer button presses and sunlight, and leverages a mixed volatility memory architecture for efficient intermittent emulation of game binaries. Beyond a fun toy, our design represents the first battery-free system design for continuous user attention despite frequent power failures caused by intermittent energy harvesting. We tackle key challenges in intermittent computing for interaction including seamless displays and dynamic incentive-based gameplay for energy harvesting. This work provides a reference implementation and framework for a future of battery-free mobile gaming in a more sustainable Internet of Things.