This crawling phone charger will haunt your nightmares

It seems fair to say that 2020 has been a pretty strange year. So strange that when we heard that researchers have created a mobile phone case that can crawl towards its charger, our first reaction was: okay, sure. Then we saw the video. This thing is so horrifying, it feels like a metaphor for 2020 itself.

Robotics researchers from the Biorobotics Laboratory at Seoul National University have adapted one of their existing robot designs to turn it into a phone case with tiny legs that can move your phone across the table towards a wireless charger (for a less nightmarish charging solution, check out the best power banks). Take a look at the monstrosity below.

While disturbing, the tech is also pretty impressive. The case houses 6 tiny legs, each with its own "knee joint". According to IEEE Robotics, CaseCrawler weighs about 23g and can crawl at 21cm per second while carrying over 300g (more than 13 times its own body weight). At 24mm thick, it's chunkier than your average phone case, but then again, your average phone case doesn't have knees.

It seems CaseCrawler doesn't any kind of intelligence (thank goodness) – it will simply move in a straight line towards the charger. It can, however climb over small obstacles, so it's still more dangerous than your average dalek.

Thankfully, with the device only in concept stage, it's currently confined to the lab – and our nightmares. We're all for innovation (check out these Apple patents we wish would come true), just as long as it doesn't make our skin crawl. If you're looking for a phone that doesn't need to crawl to a charger every few minutes, we were seriously impressed with the battery life in our iPhone 11 Pro review. Check out the best deals below. 

Read more:

Thank you for reading 5 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access

Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription

Join now for unlimited access

Try first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

Daniel Piper
Senior News Editor

Daniel Piper is Creative Bloq’s Senior News Editor. As the brand’s Apple authority, he covers all things Mac, iPhone, iPad and the rest. He also reports on the worlds of design, branding and tech. Daniel joined Future in 2020 (an eventful year, to say the least) after working in copywriting and digital marketing with brands including ITV, NBC, Channel 4 and more. Outside of Future, Daniel is a global poetry slam champion and has performed at festivals including Latitude, Bestival and more. He is the author of Arbitrary and Unnecessary: The Selected Works of Daniel Piper (Selected by Daniel Piper).