A robot that can breathe and sweat helps scientists understand the impact of rising temperatures

Worried about Earth’s climate change, scientists are using robots to study the impact of heat on humans. ANDI stands for Advanced Newtonian Dynamic Instrument – and resembles a simple crash test dummy. But it has the ability to breathe, shiver and sweat. ANDI was developed by researchers at Arizona State University in the US. It’s being used in Phoenix to understand what happens to the body when a human has heatstroke and how we can protect ourselves on a warming planet.

University A release is published About the unique robot in May this year. It can simulate the thermal functions of the human body and has 35 different surface areas, all of which are individually controlled by temperature sensors, heat flux sensors and bead sweating pores.

“He’s the world’s first outdoor thermal mannequin that we can take outside regularly … and measure how much heat he’s getting from the environment,” mechanical engineering professor Konrad Rykaszewski told the AFP news agency.

“The robot is a very realistic way to experimentally measure how a human reacts to extreme weather,” the researcher added, without putting people at risk themselves.

Until now, only about a dozen mannequins of this type existed, and none of them could go outdoors. But this ANDI is only one of two used by research institutes, and the first with a unique internal cooling channel.

Phoenix, the capital of Arizona, is experiencing the longest heat wave in history. On Friday, the temperature crossed 110 43 degrees Celsius for the 22nd consecutive day.

“You can’t put humans in dangerously hot conditions and see what happens,” said Jenny Vanos, associate professor in the School of Sustainability. “But there are cases in the valley where people are dying because of the heat, and we still don’t fully understand what happened. ANDI will help us understand that.”

In ANDI’s newly developed heat chamber, researchers can simulate heat-exposure conditions from different locations around the world. The temperature here can reach up to 60 degrees Celsius.

The robot has internal cooling channels that help ANDI cope with various conditions, such as solar radiation from the Sun, infrared radiation from the Earth, and convection from the surrounding air.

The researchers hope the robot will learn more about hyperthermia — that is, when the body overheats, a condition that threatens a growing proportion of the world’s population as a result of global warming.