Since 2007, two professors at the TU Delft have been researching ways to harvest energy from the wind using a kite. The robotic kite looks set to make its debut in the energy sector, but often inventions are used in unexpected ways. In this series of articles, we take robot innovations from their test-lab and bring them to a randomly selected workplace in the outside world. From kindergarten teacher Fransien, we learn that big kites could also be child's play, quite literally. A robot wheels in the kite and then slowly releases it, painting 8-shaped loops on the sky.

Realizing this, and still needing to adapt to the increasingly industrialized world, more companies and people at large are moving towards adapting lower carbon-emitting solutions to generate electricity. Among the ways that we leverage on now is by harvesting solar or wind power to produce electricity. However, performance and reliability vary because solar panels and windmills rely on the weather to generate electricity, hence they would not be able to provide constant results all the time. Solar panels would not function under the cloudy or rainy sky, nor would windmills function when there's no breeze.

Scientists have invented window blinds that store solar energy and are capable of slashing 70 per cent off homeowners' energy bills. The creators of SolarGaps claim it is the world's first'smart blind' that can store solar energy in a battery and is being marketed as an alternative to rooftop solar panels. A set of blinds is expected to sell for around £210 ($270). Scientists have invented window blinds that store energy which they claim can slash an incredible 70 per cent off homeowners' energy bills The blinds have thin solar panels mounted on slats. A motor controls the direction they point in, and makes sure they are facing the sun.

A robotic hand covered in'electric skin' that can harvest the sun's energy and feel touch better than a human has been developed by scientists. The electric skin is made from graphene - an ultra-thin form of carbon that is only an atom thick, but stronger than steel. The super flexible skin is hypersensitive to touch and may one day be used to make more responsive prosthetics for amputees, or to build robots with the sense of touch. Dr Ravinder Dahiya, pictured, from the University of Glasgow's School of Engineering, developed the hand which is covered in graphene Researchers incorporated photovoltaic cells into the electronic skin of the hand. Photovoltaic cells generate electricity by turning energy of the sun into a flow of electrons.