Japanese researchers came up with a way to cool down a humanoid robot named Kengoro — allowing it to sweat out of its 3D printed “bones”. Humans sweat in order to cool down our muscles and avoid overheating. When we sweat, water is pumped out of our bodies and body heat is removed. It evaporates and cools us down in the process so we can keep going with our activities. However, robots like Kengoro can also overheat when they have high torque demands on their motors. For this humanoid, that means doing push-ups for 11 minutes, running laps, and other ‘sporty’ activities. Much like a person, overexertion can be a major limitation to the robot’s performance. There are many different ways that engineers can tackle this problem, such as using heat sinks, fans, and radiators. Unfortunately, all these cooling solutions take up valuable space and add extra weight to the robot’s frame.

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• Country: Japan 
• Company: University of Tokyo’s JSK laboratory