Artificial Heart and Muscles for Robots

A new pump made from shape memory alloys may bring us one step closer to fully autonomous robots capable of operating reliably without any human intervention. Using a design based on the human heart, engineers created the new device specifically for EcoBots – a category of robots that are powered by urine and other liquid effluents. Simpler than an electric motor-driven pump, the new concept should be less prone to mechanical failure and blockages.

Artificial muscle fibers made from the alloys alternately compress when exposed to an electric current, and relax when the current is removed. This creates a pumping action that ejects the fluid to the EcoBot’s fuel cells, where microbes break it down to generate electricity.

The robots could recharge themselves by collecting their own fuel from public lavatories or farm waste systems. The researchers envision deploying EcoBots in areas where extreme pollution levels or other dangers pose high risks to humans.