Tree on a Chip

Plants use a natural hydraulic pumping process to pull water and nutrients from the soil below to their top most branches and leaves.  This natural process has inspired the engineering students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to come up with a microfluidic pump that they call “Tree on a Chip.”

The chip pumps water for days at a time at a constant rate. One of the potential uses for the chip could be to power small robots. Anette “Peko” Hosoi, the associate department head for operations in MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, said that the chip’s passive pumping may be leveraged as a simple hydraulic actuator used by small robots.

Since it is expensive for engineers to make tiny movable parts and pumps to power complex movements in small robots, using the tree on a chip, would help powering hydraulic robots. The team is hoping to miniaturize and create robots like the Boston Dynamic’s Big Dog.

That is a big four legged robot that can perform many tricks such as running over rough terrain and jumping. The robot is also powered by hydraulic actuators. Future science projects would involve creating smaller robots that can do similar tricks.