Watertree Robot started as a rough sketch inspired by how real trees pull water from the ground. Keeping this in mind, if nature already knows how to find and move water with no electricity or plumbing, maybe it is possible to borrow that logic.

Clean water is something most of us take for granted, until it’s not there. In places hit by drought, conflict, or disaster, finding safe drinking water becomes the first and most urgent challenge. Watertree project wanted to design something that could help, not in theory, but in the field.

The early prototypes were simple. Tubes, filters, basic suction. But they worked. Over time, they evolved into a modular system: small robotic “roots” that reach deep into the soil, a central stem that creates just enough negative pressure to draw moisture up, and a top surface that lets the water condense. No pumps, no power, just physics.

Watertree Robot by KAIST CIDR Lab. and Zoslee has to be tough enough for sandstorms, yet compact enough to carry, and simple enough that someone could use it without training. Watertree Robot is just doing the job we hoped it would: giving people access to clean water, wherever they are, even on Mars.