Can anyone here think of [...] 
  how [...] this experiment 
  could [be] squeezed into 
  a form [...] as the next 
  big [...] thing?

This is definitely firmly in the "Internet of Things" genre of niche interests. Remote power monitoring and other system diagnostics for systems designed to account for expected faults, and manage their own capacity to operate, for sure are useful for internet managed consumer appliances.

Right now we only think in terms of wi-fi routers and phones, but when 4 out of 5 useless gadgets (oh boy! internet-enabled shampoo bottles that also can advertise hair gel! yaayy!) have a battery and 5G internet, an RSS/JSON/XML feed of their status will be abundantly relevant.

To... someone. Probably not me, but I'm sure someone will want this.