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Meet the Egyptian-designed robot built to produce water on Mars

Variety

06-09-2021 | 07:28

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Meet the Egyptian-designed robot built to produce water on Mars

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This Egyptian mechatronics engineer can turn air into water droplets, thanks to ELU, a robot he devised to utilise humidity and turn it into water using artificial intelligence.

The 28-year-old engineer was inspired by NASA's missions to Mars, and has built his robot to function in weather conditions similar to the red planet, known to have high levels of humidity but very dry. Thanks to the robot's settings, Mahmoud Elkoumy proposes that ELU can absorb moisture on Mars and turn it into drinkable water.

The new low-cost technology, supported by artificial intelligence, can generate big amounts of water with less energy, using polymers, Elkoumy says. Other technologies used to generate water from air, including mechanical heat exchangers, are more expensive and energy consuming, he added.

It took Elkoumy nine months to reach ELU's final design and says it costs nearly $250. The cost of generating one litre of water via ELU only ranges between 1.5 to 2 cents, in comparison to 20 cents using other technologies, according to the young researcher.

Elkoumy wishes that his self-financed project can be used on larger scales not only on Mars, but in other arid areas with little or no access to water resources.

REUTERS

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