Artificial Heart Inspired by a Cockroach

The artificial heart, or biventricular pump as its inventor Sujoy K. Guha of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur (IITK), calls it, consists of two identical artificial ventricular pumps, made of a series of interconnected diaphragm chambers. A battery-driven motor controls the compression and expansion of the chambers.

The device, which was the main draw at a recently concluded event — called IndAc 2008, that showcased new technologies developed at IITK — draws inspiration from the heart of a cockroach which has a fail-safe mechanism. A cockroach’s heart has as many as 13 chambers, unlike the four in a human heart. As a result, failure of a single chamber in the former does not become life threatening unlike in the latter, says Guha. Moreover, the pumping of blood in a cockroach’s heart happens in a staged manner, which reduces the build up of pressure, often experienced in the human heart.

More at Telegraph India