Arizona State University researchers are using a breathing, perspiring, humanoid robot to study the effects of extreme temperatures on the body, including, yes, buttock sweat. But as creepy as ANDI (and its backside) looks, the device could help experts better devise products, methods, and treatments to keep populations safe as the planet continues its dangerous climate-change-induced warming patterns.
Aside from such visible, sometimes socially awkward physical signs of heat stress, there’s actually a lot experts still don’t know about people’s biological responses to high temperatures. But researchers like Jenni Vanos, an associate professor in ASU’s School of Sustainability, can’t just put subjects in dangerously extreme heat scenarios and observe the dire effects. “There are situations where we know people are dying from the heat and we still don’t fully understand what happened,” Vanos said in a recent statement. “ANDI can help us figure that out.”
[Related: 1 in 5 people are likely to live in dangerously hot climates by 2100.]
Funded by a National Science Foundation Major Research Instrumentation Grant and custom made by Thermetry, ASU’s ANDI is one of only two currently deployed at a research institution. It is also the first thermal manikin that can be used outdoors, thanks to new internal cooling channels. Within this unique system, cool water circulates through ANDI’s “body” to keep the overall temperature low enough to endure extreme heat, while sensors measure numerous variables that affect human perception of heat, such as solar brightness and air convection .
These perceptions are as varied as people’s health and body types – something ANDI can easily take into account. “We can [enter] different BMI models, different age characteristics, and different medical conditions,” said Ankit Joshi, an ASU researcher and chief operator of ANDI. Joshi gives as an example a diabetic patient, who has different thermoregulatory abilities than a healthy person. “We can account for all these adjustments with our bespoke models.”
ASU’s ANDI is generally located in the aptly named “Warm Room,” a room built to simulate heat exposure scenarios seen in regions around the world, including factors such as wind, solar radiation, and temperatures as high as 140 degrees Fahrenheit. Within the Warm Room, ANDI can accurately measure the mechanics of human sweating, such as changing core and skin temperatures.
Outside of the Warm Room, however, ANDI reportedly gets a walking buddy. Over the summer, the research team will pair the doll with the non-humanoid Marty, ASU’s biometeorological heat robot. Both machines will roam ASU’s (very hot) campus, with MaRTy measuring the heat hitting a body, while ANDI can record how a body responds to said temperatures.
[Related: Heat is the silent killer we should all be worried about.]
There is no one-size-fits-all solution to adapting to rising temperatures, and researchers are well aware of this. “We’re trying to approach this from a very holistic point of view, but there’s not going to be a panacea for anything,” said Konrad Rykaczewski, an associate professor in ASU’s School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy and the study’s principal investigator. Such varying options include designing better cooling clothing, or even exoskeleton backpacks specifically made to cool down the wearers.
