From CES to Lisbon, Ki Development Accelerates to the Finish Line

It never fails. Over the past year whether it’s CES, IFA, or trade shows in Seoul and Shanghai, when booth visitors see the Ki Cordless Kitchen in action delivering up to 2.2kW of power to kitchen appliances without power cords or batteries, jaws drop. Such was the case once again for CES 2024 in Las Vegas this past January. 

For CES, the Ki demonstration included an expanded array of prototype products from Midea, Severin, EGO and Philips. Appliances included air fryers, juicers, waffle makers, blenders and more.

Shortly after CES, Ki passed another milestone in what’s become a race to the finish line for the KI development team. The fourth of a series of plugfests took place in Lisbon where WPC members tested their Ki prototypes for interoperability and other functions.

For those not familiar with what a plugfest is, let me give you a brief tutorial.  A plugfest is a sort of test lab where engineers and developers work through a checklist of required tests looking for software bugs, validating the Ki specification, testing interoperability, and conducting other critical readiness testing including safety considerations.  Here, WPC member companies can ensure their products meet rigorous requirements for interoperability and safety so that they can pass the Wireless Power Consortium’s (WPC) certification testing before launching to the public.

What happens in a plugfest?

The plugfest room resembles an electronics laboratory filled with tables overflowing with product prototypes, testing equipment, a myriad of wires and plugs, laptops and display screens. The atmosphere is an unusual combination of well secured confidentiality with what WPC calls collaborative competition.  On the one hand, access to the plugfest room is restricted to only participating members.  Guests or observers (other than some WPC staff members including the writer) are not allowed in the room and photography is strictly prohibited.

On the other hand, product developers and engineers from otherwise competing WPC member companies can be observed working together in the plugfest, pooling their knowledge, and brainstorming to identify and fix software bugs, glitches in components, or errors in the draft specifications.  In fact, in my interviews with the product developers they frequently remarked how the event enabled and even encouraged collaborative problem solving and how that collaboration produced innovative outcomes. 

Each day of the 3-day plugfest is carefully choreographed by the WPC to maximize productivity and provide comprehensive evaluation of the standard’s specifications. Participating members receive a detailed list of tests developed in concert between WPC staff and the test tool vendors. The developers are required to run their products through the test list and provide data on whether the products passed or failed each of the tests along with supporting diagnostics.

At the time of my interviews the product developers were testing for interoperability.  Interoperability is an important element of a standard and is crucial to enable a category to grow. Interoperability means that any device built and certified for a standard and intended to work with another type of similarly certified device will work with the other device as intended regardless of brand. For example, borrowing from another WPC standard, the QI standard for wireless power for small mobile electronics, a Qi Certified smartphone will work with any other Qi Certified wireless charger including backwards compatibility with old devices and forwards compatibility with new devices launched in the future.

Benefits of plugfests

The right to participate in plugfests is a valued benefit of membership in the WPC. For product developers it’s an invaluable opportunity to test their product designs in a controlled environment before finalizing their products for market launch. Benefits developers described to me included:

• Shortening product development time and enabling first or early mover advantages in the market
• Preventing developers from spending time and resources going down the wrong road
• Providing developers with access to knowledge by working with other developers from other member companies.

What’s next?

Over the last several years, the Ki development process has resembled a marathon but this year it’s turned into more of a sprint to the finish line. That finish line is expected in October when the standard is projected to be released. Between now and then there are two more plugfests planned before the Ki standard is finalized and released to members.

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