An Egyptian mechatronics engineer can turn air into water thanks to a robot he designed to extract moisture from the air and turn it into water using artificial intelligence.
Engineer Mohamed El-Koumi, 28, was inspired by NASA's trips to Mars, designing the robot to operate in climatic conditions similar to those on the Red Planet, which is known for its saturated weather with high levels of humidity, but it is very dry.
Elkomi says that the ELU robot can extract moisture from the air on Mars and turn it into drinking water, explaining that the robot was named "Elo" because it means "life" in the Estonian language, and after Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX. SpaceX), which Elkoumi considers his role model in real life.
Al-Koumi says that this cheap technology supported by artificial intelligence can produce large quantities of water using less energy and the use of polymers, and added that "Elo uses a new technology to separate water from atmospheric air. It is known that the Martian climate is highly humid, but without water, so it is Elo - which means life - could create life on Mars. There are many technologies, but this technology is fast and produces more pure water."
It took 9 months to reach the final design of the Elo, and El Koumi says that its cost is about $ 250, and the young researcher - recipient of the Geneva Invention Prize in 2021, and a silver medal in the field of artificial intelligence - added that the cost of producing one liter of water through Elo ranges from 1.5 and 2 cents, compared to 20 cents for producing a liter of water using other technology.
El-Koumi hopes his self-financed project will be widely used, not only on Mars, but in regions on Earth where water resources are scarce.
"I can make plants that generate more than 5,000 liters of water per day, and it can reach 50,000 liters per day. It can be used in any desert area that is poor in natural water sources such as rivers or wells," he said.