The artificial heart was based on the design of the human heart, and is the first muscle-driven heart powered by MFCs that feed on human urine. Made of smart materials that retain their shape, subjecting the material to a current will cause it to contract around a pump that will then eject a fluid into the fuel cells. Turning off the current causes the material to relax and return to its original shape, where it readies itself to collect more fluid and continue the cycle.

According to Dr. Peter Walters, lead author of the study, Doctor Walters said: “We speculate that in the future, urine-powered EcoBots could perform environmental monitoring tasks such as measuring temperature, humidity and air quality."