Researchers from Cornell University have developed a snail-inspired robot that promises to one day scoop microplastics from bodies of water.

A prototype of the robot has been built in the likeness of the Hawaiian Apple Snail, an aquarium snail that relies on the undulating motion of its foot to control water surface flow as well as vacuum up floating food particles.

The researchers were inspired specifically by this snail’s ability to gather food particles at the air-water interface. With the snail-like robot, the team attempted to mimic this feature so that future iterations of the robot would be able to similarly collect microplastics at the surface of bodies of water.

To accomplish this, the team 3D printed a flexible, carpet-like sheet that undulates much like the Hawaiian Apple Snail. To encourage undulation, the 3D-printed device features a helical structure on its underside, which rotates like a corkscrew, thereby encouraging the device to undulate and subsequently form a traveling wave on the water, the researchers explained.

The snail inspired fluid-pumping system is open to the air. As such, the researchers estimated that a system, wherein the pump is enclosed and it employs a tube to vacuum in water and particles, would demand high energy inputs to operate. Consequently, the open system is considered far more efficient, the researchers suggested, explaining that although the device is small, it operates on just 5 V of electricity and still effectively vacuums up water.

The device is detailed in the article, “Optimal free-surface pumping by an undulating carpet,” which appears in the journal Nature Communications.

For more information on the device, watch the accompanying video that appears courtesy of Cornell University.