Make water from air, with a backpack.

HydroBeetle is a backpack we are building to collect water from humid air. The idea comes from a desert beetle, and we build it at the University of Tokyo.

Work with us See how it works

Humid air meets a cold panel.

Drops form on the dimples.

They run down into the tray.

Who backs us, and where we have been.

8programmes and events¥2.3Min grants
A ger alone on dry grassland in Mongolia, 2024.

Water is often somewhere else.

Water has to be brought to people: by pipe, by truck or by hand. Where homes are far apart, or when the supply is cut, it does not always arrive.

200 million hours a day are spent by women and girls fetching water. UNICEF, 2016 (opens in a new tab)

What if some of that water could come from the humid air around you?

It can. These drops came from the air in an ordinary room.

Water drops cover our collecting panel. One falls from its lower edge into a dish.Water drops cover our collecting panel. One falls from its lower edge into a dish.
Our collecting panel in a bench test, April 2026.

Learn from nature, for the future.

Onymacris unguicularis, a black beetle of the Namib Desert, standing head-down on the sand with its back raised into the fog.
Photo: GbbIT, CC BY-SA 3.0 (opens in a new tab)

In the Namib Desert, a beetle drinks the morning fog: drops gather on the bumps of its back and run to its mouth. Our collecting panel borrows that idea.

Our goal is a pack that collects water from the air around you, runs on sunlight and needs no pipe.

See how it works

Five builds so far.

Each one took on a problem the last one showed us.

  1. P1Sep 2025A cardboard box
  2. P2Sep 2025We added cooling
  3. P3Feb 2026We steered the air
  4. P4Mar 2026A closed box
  5. P5Apr 2026Built to lose heat

What people asked us.

We asked 37 people to pick one thing to carry for three days with no shops. 29 picked a device that makes water from air. Here are the doubts they raised, in their own words.

Can it really do that?

“I don’t know if it can really do that.”

Survey answer, translated from Japanese

Yes. Cool a surface enough and the water in the air turns into drops on it, like on a cold glass in summer. Our fifth build does this on a lab bench today. The backpack is what we are building next.

See how it works
How heavy is it?

“The weight isn’t given, so if it is very heavy I would avoid it.”

Survey answer, translated from Japanese

Our latest build weighs about 2 kg. The full pack will weigh more, and we will say how much once it is built. Weight is what we watch most: our target is more water for every kilogram you carry.

See what we are aiming for
Why not just carry a filter?

“Filter is lighter than device.”

Survey answer

Beside a stream, a filter is lighter, and we would take one too. But a filter needs water nearby. HydroBeetle is for the places and the days when there is none.

See what we are aiming for
When would I need it?

“It is hard to picture Japan running out of water.”

Survey answer, translated from Japanese

When the tap stops. An earthquake or a typhoon can cut the water for days, and 17 of 29 people told us the water in their home would last two days or less. It is also for long days outdoors, far from a tap.

Is the water clean?

“It seems it would make cleaner water.”

Survey answer, translated from Japanese

We do not know yet, and we will not guess. The design passes the water through a filter on its way out, and an independent lab will test it before anyone drinks it.

See what we are testing next

Next is the full pack. Build it with us.

Test it where water is hard to get, back the build, or tell us your story.

Work with usMeet the team