The aim of a European project Nephron+ is design of a wearable artificial kidney device (WAKD). This paper is focused on design of the corresponding ultralow-hemolysis continuous-operation blood pump. Accurate specifications and operating principle of the pump are determined; a first, non-optimal configuration of an electromechanical actuator which will be used to pump the blood is designed; its prototype is presented along with the corresponding driving electronic circuit; finally, based on the measurements, the actuator is optimized, and the final design and first results are presented.