Engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and their collaborators have designed a microfluidic device they call a \u201ctree-on-a-chip\u201d which mimics the pumping mechanism of trees and plants.Like its natural counterparts, the chip operates passively, requiring no moving parts or external pumps.<\/p>\n
It is able to pump water and sugars through the chip at a steady flow rate for several days.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe chip\u2019s passive pumping may be leveraged as a simple hydraulic actuator for small robots,\u201d said Anette \u201cPeko\u201d Hosoi, associate department head for operations in MIT\u2019s Department of Mechanical Engineering.<\/p>\n
Engineers have found it difficult and expensive to make tiny, movable parts and pumps to power complex movements in small robots.<\/p>\n
The team\u2019s new pumping mechanism may enable robots whose motions are propelled by inexpensive, sugar-powered pumps.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn small robotics, if we could make the building blocks that enable cheap complexity, that would be super exciting. I think these [microfluidic pumps] are a step in that direction,\u201d Hosoi added.<\/p>\n
Hosoi\u2019s co-authors on the paper are lead author Jean Comtet, a former graduate student in MIT\u2019s Department of Mechanical Engineering; Kaare Jensen of the Technical University of Denmark; and Robert Turgeon and Abraham Stroock, both of Cornell University.<\/p>\n
Hosoi envisions that the \u201ctree-on-a-chip\u201d pump may be built into a small robot to produce hydraulically powered motions, without requiring active pumps or parts.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you design your robot in a smart way, you could absolutely stick a sugar cube on it and let it go,\u201d Hosoi said.<\/p>\n
The results were published in the journal Nature Plants.<\/p>\n
IANS<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Picture source: Alamy Image<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Image used for illustrative purposes<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and their collaborators have designed a microfluidic device they call a \u201ctree-on-a-chip\u201d which mimics the pumping mechanism of trees and plants.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":3541,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[29,31],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kt10.khaleejtimes.ae\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3540"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kt10.khaleejtimes.ae\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kt10.khaleejtimes.ae\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kt10.khaleejtimes.ae\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kt10.khaleejtimes.ae\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3540"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kt10.khaleejtimes.ae\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3540\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kt10.khaleejtimes.ae\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kt10.khaleejtimes.ae\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kt10.khaleejtimes.ae\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kt10.khaleejtimes.ae\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}