Urine-Powered Robots Could Be Coming Soon
- 11 years ago
With the end goal of creating urine-powered robots, scientists in Bristol, UK have developed an engine of sorts that runs on the biological waste.
With the end goal of creating self-sustaining waste powered robots, scientists in Bristol, UK have developed an engine of sorts that runs on the biological waste.
It works by means of an artificial heart that pumps the liquid through itself every 3 and a-half seconds for a 30-second duration. Then it takes a 3-hour rest and starts again.
The heartbeat-like movements are triggered by electrical pulses hitting a responsive alloy. When it’s struck it expands and when it cools it contracts. The urine is pumped into a fuel cell where microbes breakdown the waste and produce small amounts of power.
Due to its mechanical simplicity, it’s said to be more dependable than a traditional electrical motor.
The next phase is to construct the robot that will be powered by it.
As the amount of power produced by the pump is on the lighter side, its eventual functions are predicted to be more in the category of monitoring things like temperature and humidity.
As for fuel, the scientists say, "In the city environment, they could recharge using urine from urinals in public lavatories. In rural environments, liquid waste effluent could be collected from farms."
With the end goal of creating self-sustaining waste powered robots, scientists in Bristol, UK have developed an engine of sorts that runs on the biological waste.
It works by means of an artificial heart that pumps the liquid through itself every 3 and a-half seconds for a 30-second duration. Then it takes a 3-hour rest and starts again.
The heartbeat-like movements are triggered by electrical pulses hitting a responsive alloy. When it’s struck it expands and when it cools it contracts. The urine is pumped into a fuel cell where microbes breakdown the waste and produce small amounts of power.
Due to its mechanical simplicity, it’s said to be more dependable than a traditional electrical motor.
The next phase is to construct the robot that will be powered by it.
As the amount of power produced by the pump is on the lighter side, its eventual functions are predicted to be more in the category of monitoring things like temperature and humidity.
As for fuel, the scientists say, "In the city environment, they could recharge using urine from urinals in public lavatories. In rural environments, liquid waste effluent could be collected from farms."