Robots could be the answer to making the hydrogen economy become a reality.

Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in the US believe that robots could cut the time and cost of producing fuel cells.

Raymond Puffer, co-director of the project, asserts that the hydrogen economy could take off if the cost of assembling fuel cells was lowered.

"The US Department of Energy has suggested that the cost of manufacturing fuel cells is the single biggest obstacle on the road to the hydrogen economy," he pointed out.

The researchers believe that the by creating a robotic 'workcell', assembly of a fuel cell could soon take just minutes rather than hours.

Earlier this week, senator Byron Dorgan, a campaigner for hydrogen research, told the Hydrogen Energy Action Summit that the new technologies are "increasingly replacing old ones in the lives of everyday Americans".


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