This robot can sweat like a human

The robot Kengoro looks and moves like a human - and he can even sweat. Scientists at the University of Tokyo have taken nature as their role model and developed a machine with an incomparable cooling system.

Bug or feature? Anyone who regularly starts to work up a sweat at work or during sports has certainly asked this question before. In fact, by sweating, the body regulates its temperature, thus ensuring that we do not suffer permanent damage, even under great effort. So it's clearly a feature. Scientists at the University of Tokyo have now transferred this principle to a robot, as BGR reports.

The humanoid robot Kengoro looks and moves like a human. For so much fine motoring, the machine needs more than 100 motors and they produce a lot of heat in continuous operation. So that Kengoro does not overheat and it comes to serious damage to the fine electronics or hoses and seals, the researchers had to come up with something. As so often nature provided the best plan.

Because just like a human or an animal, Kengoro starts to sweat when the engines are running too hot. However, to cool it, the scientists have placed small chambers of liquid on the outer shell of the robot. If Kengoro gets too hot, this liquid will leak and cool the machine from the outside. Thanks to this mechanism, the robot will last longer under full load.

It is noteworthy that in the case of Kengoro, this type of cooling works up to three times better than passive fan cooling. So it looks as if nature has provided the perfect blueprint - not only for humans, but also for robots.