History Main / HamsterWheelPower

* In ''VideoGame/OxygenNotIncluded'', the Manual Generator is your starting Power building, and your main source of power for much of the early game. It's an over-sized hamster wheel that your Duplicants run on in order to charge your batteries and provide power to your space station's machinery. Eventually, you can tech up to coal, diesel, and hydrogen power plants, but since the hamsterwheels only need a duplicant with nothing better to do, produces no waste product, and produce very little heat, it remains viable well into the late game-especially as jump-starters to power plants that require a pump of some kind to feed them with.

* In ''Film/MortalEngines'', Tom Natsworthy has a hamster powering some of his Old Tech in his room in the Museum.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'' episode, "the Ricks must be Crazy," when [[MadScientist Rick's]] car power supply fails, he takes Morty inside the battery, where Rick explains to Morty that he created a "Microverse" and waited until a sentient life form evolved that he then gave gooble boxes, a device that generates electricity when used to exercise by walking in place. After Morty tries to explain that Rick essentially enslaved an entire planet, Rick responds that since the people of "Microverse" created a complex society where anyone who gets old and dies is replaced by someone younger, [[SlaveRace Morty replies "that's just slavery with extra steps,"]] to which Rick just brushes off. When they encounter Zeep, basically an {{Expy}} of Rick, Zeep reveals that to power his world, he created a "Miniverse," waited until a sentient life form evolved, to which he gave flooble cranks, a lever based exercise devise that generates electricity, and thus render the gobble box obsolete. [[{{Hypocrite}} When Rick mentions that Zeep enslaved and entire planet,]] Zeep responds that since the people of the Miniverse created a complex society, they aren't slaves, when Rick says [[IronicEcho "that's just slavery with extra steps,"]] Zeep just brushes him off. When they go into the "Miniverse," they encounter a scientist named Kyle who created a "Teenyverse," and when a sentient life form evolves, he'll give them a blooble yank, a pulley based exercise device that will render the flooble crank obsolete. When Zeep tries to explain that he's planning to enslave an entire planet, Kyle responds that since the people of the "Teenyverse" will live in a complex society, they won't be slaves. As Zeep mentions "that's just slavery with extra steps" he attacks Rick, when he realizes why they are there. As they are arguing, Kyle realizes why he was born, climbs into his ship, and crashes it, stranding Rick, Morty, and Zeep in the Teenyverse. At the end, once they manage to exit the "Tenyverse," and after [[InferredHolocaust Rick destroys Zeep's "Miniverse,"]] they enter the car, and when it starts, Morty asks how is that possible, to which Rick responds that he told the people of the Teenyverse to either keep their gooble boxes, or he [[DeadlyEuphemism "would have to toss a broken battery."]]

-->-- ''WesternAnimation/Ducktales2017'', "The Golden Armory of Cornelius Coot!"

* In ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles'' and ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2'', the [[RidiculouslyCuteCritter Nopon]] use this to power [[BambooTechnology their technology]], with themselves as the hamsters. Typically the runner is a volunteer, but Nopon criminals like [[spoiler: Bana]] are given an extra turn on the wheel as a CoolAndUnusualPunishment.

* The video game ''VideoGame/TheIncredibleMachine'' uses these almost exclusively for power sources.

* One of the locks in ''[[VideoGame/MysteryCaseFiles Ravenhearst]]'' opens when you get a ''mechanical'' mouse to enter and use a wire exercise wheel.
* In Eyezmaze's ''Black Box'', one of these provides mechanical power to the contraption.
* Ferries in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' are powered by [[HorseOfADifferentColor chocobos]] running in hamster wheels. Justified, since a more advanced engine would presumably break Yevon's taboo against machina.

* One puzzle in ''VideoGame/{{Limbo}}'' involves luring a creature to a wheel to get it to power a WeatherControlMachine.
* After building an airport in ''VideoGame/{{Tropico}} 4'', Penultimo and Sunny may report about it. When Penultimo describes how high-tech the air traffic control system is, Sunny claims to see a hamster wheel powering it.
* One puzzle in the Voralberg Factory in ''VideoGame/{{Syberia}}'' involves getting a clockwork rat into a wheel to provide power. This is also a bit of {{foreshadowing}} for the sequel, where you need to get a [[MixAndMatchCritters youki]] into similar contraptions to provide motive power for other devices.
* In the ZombieApocalypse Facebook game ''The Last One'', one of the devices with which you can equip your stronghold is powered by a zombie in an exercise wheel. A live rat dangles on a rope in front of the zombie to bait it into mindlessly trudging along.
* In the Facebook game ''Island Experiment'', the Sweet Kingdom archipelago's Donut Island has an irrigation system that's powered by bunnies running inside giant hamster balls. You need to trap the escaped bunnies, put them inside, and hang carrots in front of the balls so they'll go back to running.
* Part of the plot of ''VideoGame/{{Shantae}}: Half-Genie Hero'' is helping Mimic build a device to repel evil from Scuttle Town and using one of these as its power source. It's slightly more plausible in that the hamster is zombified and thus doesn't have need of things like eating or sleeping to keep it from running the amount of time needed.

* Dr. Fred's lab in ''VideoGame/DayOfTheTentacle'' features a hamster-powered generator, which is pretty much ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. Finding it and getting it running in the future is the key to powering Laverne's Chron-O-John.

* Cranes used in the construction of RealLife medieval cathedrals and castles were sometimes powered by humans walking inside giant wheels.

* There were plans after both world wars to power Europe handcarts with generators installed on them, given that that there was a surplus of men and rail lines.

* {{MMORPG}} players tend to jokingly refer to their game's servers as being powered by either "server hamsters" or a similar creature from the game's universe (for example, tribbles in ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline''). As such, instances of servers being down are attributed to the "server hamsters" either misbehaving or not being properly taken cared of.

* In ''WebVideo/HellsingUltimateAbridged'', Sir Integra frustratedly assumes [[{{Troll}} The Major]] is powered by this when he is revealed to be a cyborg. He just replies, “His name is Hamberg.”

* One Short Circuits strip from the ''ComicBook/MegaMan'' comic had Dr. Light invent Mariachi, the robot hamster, who runs in a hamster wheel to power itself as a perpetual motion machine. Proto Man cites this as why he doesn't like him messing with his power core.

* At the very end of ''WesternAnimation/{{Bolt}}'' it's revealed the roll of the ClosingCredits is hamster-powered.
* In ''WesternAnimation/ChickenRun'', the chickens escaped on a plane that ran on pedals.
* In ''WesternAnimation/MadagascarEscape2Africa'', a plane was powered by monkeys.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'', when Jack disguises himself as a snowman during his "What's This?" song, a sled full of caroling elves glides past him. The sled is propelled by a penguin waddling along in a wheel.
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'', Jafar has Iago run atop a horizontal gear to produce power for a [[CrystalBall scrying device]], with which to locate the "diamond in the rough".

* The Kakamora from ''WesternAnimation/{{Moana}}'' use one of these to deploy a giant drum on their floating fortress.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/DennisTheMenace'' episode, "Wheeling and Double-Dealing", Winston's perpetual motion race car is powered by three rats running on a wheel.

* WesternAnimation/SnooperAndBlabber are in an auto race competing against a VillainOfTheWeek, who late in the race steals their motor. Snooper wins the race regardless, and when the villain asks how, Snooper opens the hood and shows him: he used Blabber in a hamster wheel.

* In ''VideoGame/OxygenNotIncluded'', the Manual Generator is your starting Power building, and your main source of power for much of the early game. It's an over-sized hamster wheel that your Duplicants run on in order to charge your batteries and provide power to your space station's machinery. Eventually, you can tech up to coal, diesel, and hydrogen power plants, but since the hamsterwheels only need a duplicant with nothing better to do, produces no waste product, and produce very little heat, it remains viable well into the late game.

* {{MMORPG}} players tend to jokingly refer to their game's servers as being powered by either "server hamsters" or a similar creature from the game's universe (for example, tribbles in ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline'')

* In ''ComicBook/ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog'', a fairly often-used occurrence is to use Sonic's speed to power various devices, usually by having him pedal on a modified bike, or running on a treadmill. Amazingly he's even used this to power not one, but two HumongousMecha!

[[folder:Fan Fic]]

* In an episode of ''{{Series/Bones}}'' Booth & Brennan visit an organic farmer who makes smoothies out of his vegetables, using a stationary bicycle to generate the electricity to run the blender. Brennan thinks it's ingenious; Booth thinks it's this trope.

* Series/AlloAllo has a few episodes where the radio to London has to be replaced and since they lose the batteries in a GambitPileUp, they have to power the radio by way of a bicycle. Which leads to a great gag where Leclerc is too exhausted to carry on, [[IHaveBoobsYouMustObey but Madame Fanny shows him her legs and he immediately gets a boost.]]

* Gnomes in the TabletopGame/{{Spelljammer}} D&D-in-space setting use giant space hamsters to power much of their goofy technology.
* Doomwheels in TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}} are Skaven warmachines bristling with warpstone weaponry, powered by a swarm of rats running inside.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* Many powered devices used by the ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'' were hamster-driven. One episode centered on Numbuh 3 giving all their base's hamster a vacation, leaving the team undefended and nearly unarmed.

* [[BaseOnWheels The Technodrome]] from ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987'' had an Emergency Pedal Power Generator in case it would run out of fuel. [[AwesomeButImpractical Which it did often.]] Justified, as the generator clearly isn't meant to be the primary energy source of 500-feet tank-fortress, it provides just barely enough power for the main computer to work.

* WesternAnimation/SnooperAndBlabber are in an auto race competing in an auto race against a VillainOfTheWeek, who late in the race steals their motor. Snooper wins the race regardless, and when the villain asks how, Snooper opens the hood and shows him: he used Blabber in a hamster wheel.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zULDfSS7h20 This nokia ad]]. Played straight and spelled out: "Hamster-powered phone charger". Genius.