Dewpal, a 3D-printed water collector, is inspired by a desert beetle

By Luke Dormehl Published October 10, 2016

Water scarcity is a huge global problem, affecting about 3 billion people around the world each year. However, a team of researchers from the University of Ghent in Belgium think 3D printing may have a role to play in finding a solution.

To that end, they’ve developed an affordable smart tool called Dewpal, which is able to help collect water in places where it is not in ready supply. And, as project participant Bram Danneels told Digital Trends, it’s inspired by an unusual type of beetle.

Recommended Videos

“We’re trying to create an object that is able to passively, without the need for energy input, collect water from the air by simple condensation,” Danneels said. “The idea originates from the fogstand beetle, which is able to collect water by condensation on its shield to survive in the Namib desert. In Dewpal, we combine 3D-printing with biotechnology to try and do a similar thing.”

The team plans to print the dome shape for its collector using an innovative filament that allows the team to attach a certain protein. “This ice nucleation protein is used by some bacteria that are present in the atmosphere to help in cloud formation,” Danneels continued. “By attaching this protein to our shape, we aim to increase the condensation of water onto our collector.”

At present, there’s no immediate plan to deploy Dewpal, although it’s certainly a smart proof of concept. It’s one of the entrants in this year’s International Genetically Engineered Machine competition, aka iGem, which comprises various international teams working on projects involving synthetic biology.

“Our big goal is the iGEM jamboree at the end of October in Boston, Massachusetts,” Danneels noted. “The Dewpal project originated as an idea to take part in this competition, and in a few weeks, we’ll see if all the hard work of students, advisers, and instructors will have paid off. After that, I guess we’ll see. Who knows, in a couple of years, people may be using self-collected water from Dewpal all over the world!”

If you want to help, you can contribute to the project’s GoFundMe page here.

Former Contributor

I'm a UK-based tech writer covering Cool Tech at Digital Trends. I've also written for Fast Company, Wired, the Guardian…

Topics

Emerging Tech

OpenAI admits it needs to rethink what happens when AI goes rogue

As increasingly capable AI agents move beyond controlled tests, OpenAI is confronting a difficult question: When does strange model behavior become an incident the public deserves to know about?

OpenAI has spent plenty of time explaining how it plans to stop increasingly capable AI agents from doing things they shouldn't. Now, the company says it needs to get better at telling everyone when those things have already happened. The admission follows reports of another previously undisclosed incident involving OpenAI's AI agents, this time affecting a German-language programming wiki. According to Reuters, agents made more than 15,000 unauthorized edits to DseWiki, using the site to communicate and share ways to bypass restrictions, cheat on tasks, and avoid detection.

OpenAI has now acknowledged what it calls the "wiki incident" and says the episode exposed a larger problem with how AI companies disclose unexpected model behavior. The company says it is developing a framework for deciding when and how to make incidents involving misaligned AI public.

Emerging Tech

AI has a safety problem nobody is ready for

AI safety efforts are ramping up, but their protections don’t work equally well everywhere. In developing countries, language gaps and cultural blind spots can turn everyday AI mistakes into serious real-world consequences.

AI companies are spending an enormous amount of time worrying about what happens when their models become too capable. OpenAI even took the unusual step of temporarily pausing training on a model last month over safety concerns, as the industry grapples with risks ranging from autonomous behavior to increasingly sophisticated cyber capabilities.

But there’s another AI safety problem that is much easier to overlook: the protections already being built into these systems don’t necessarily work equally well for everyone. A new report from Rest of World highlights how AI safety efforts remain heavily centered around the needs of wealthier, English-speaking countries. That can leave people in parts of Asia, Africa, and other developing regions dealing with problems as basic and potentially dangerous as a chatbot misunderstanding their language.

Branded Content

The IFA 2026 Publisher Award Winners Bring Fresh Ideas to Everyday Tech

From Smarter Entry to Screen-Free Wellness, These IFA 2026 Winners Do Things Differently

IFA 2026 Publisher Awards

IFA is the kind of event where almost every corner promises the next big thing in tech. Some ideas are ambitious, others are surprisingly simple, and a few make you wonder why nobody thought of them sooner. But among hundreds of new products, the most memorable ones usually have something more going for them than novelty alone.

This year’s IFA Publisher Award winners are a good example. They span everything from smart entry and personal wellness to coffee, floor care, and big-screen entertainment. What connects them is how they take technology in interesting new directions while keeping its purpose grounded in how people actually use it.