Generally, robotics is praised for its advancements. Their usage is used in every industrial company in many places in the world because of its efficiency and accuracy. But if there’s one thing that has been a constant critic against robot usage, it is the seldom overheating of these mechanical workers that cause malfunctions.
But the days of an overheating robot is about to end thanks to a human trait scientists have gotten inspired by: sweating.
Recently, a three-fingered soft robot gripper has been created which stays cool by borrowing one of humanity’s sweating attributes.
The ability to perspire is one of the most remarkable features of humans,” material scientist T.J. Wallin, one of the gripper’s designers, told reporters during a briefing. “We’re not the fastest animals, but early humans found success as persistent hunters,” using our ability to run and stay cool via sweating to “physically exhaust our prey.”
“We believe [this] is a basic building block of a general-purpose, adaptive, and enduring robot,” said Robert Shepherd, associate professor of Cornell’s Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and co-author of the research, during a briefing.
To sum it up, robots are being equipped with the ability to sweat for it to beat the heat. The project still has a very long way to go and updates are expected to come in regularly.