Related Sections: Future Tech Military Robots
Report: U.S. military developing robots that eat human flesh twigs, actually
The Pentagon has contracted a Maryland company to develop a robot that powers itself with organic material. Intended to be deployed in war zones, the robot would use that biomass to drive a steam engine. Moving through the battlefield, the hungry 'bot would gobble up "whatever organic material it can find," says a report from Fox News. That includes grass, wood, old furniture — even dead bodies twigs.
Here's the report:
Robotic Technology Inc.'s Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot — that's right, "EATR" — "can find, ingest, and extract energy from biomass in the environment (and other organically-based energy sources), as well as use conventional and alternative fuels (such as gasoline, heavy fuel, kerosene, diesel, propane, coal, cooking oil, and solar) when suitable," reads the company's Web site.That "biomass" and "other organically-based energy sources" wouldn't necessarily be limited to plant material — animal and human corpses contain plenty of energy, and they'd be plentiful in a war zone. (The developer of the EATR later said this assertion from Fox News was an exaggeration. See Update below.)
Sounds like a totally logical and practical idea. We can't think of anything that could go wrong with it.
Fox News, via Sci Fi Wire (image via Bob the Angry Flower)
UPDATE: The company developing the EATR robot made a statement on Friday, July 17, that the robot would not use corpses for fuel. Apparently, it would feast on nothing more than "twigs, grass clippings and wood chips." Still terrifying if you're a horticulturalist.
By fcw3 at 1:34 PM ON 07/16/09
Sounds like the plot of a bad Saturday Night SciFi (Syfy ) movie.
By muss34 at 2:49 PM ON 07/16/09
It just sounds like that Nazi trick that was used to
power there disiel engines in WW2 .
By roshinobi at 3:04 PM ON 07/16/09
Be the ultimate patriot: Die for your country and help stop our dependence on foreign oil at the same time! Save money on funerals too, with your heroic remains released into the air as robotic exhaust!
By Karpet at 4:43 PM ON 07/16/09
Hippie Engine Project scooped you on this story by a day. Try to keep up. Oh that would mean you read Fox News, how silly of me.
http://hippiesarefuel.blogspot.com/2009/07/candidate-of-week-eatr-darpa-is-leading.html
By IsoTek at 8:49 PM ON 07/16/09
@Karpet.....Fox News originally reported the story the same day as Hippie Engine Project did. That said its SciFi's reported on this the day after both posted on the SciFI Wire site. So maybe you should save your insults and ideological smears for another day.
By IsoTek at 8:51 PM ON 07/16/09
@Karpet.....Fox News originally reported the story the same day as Hippie Engine Project did. Plus if you read their article to the bottom of the page, you would see that they lifted the story from FOX too. That said SciFi reported on this the day after both posted on the SciFI Wire site. So maybe you should save your insults and ideological smears for another day and fully read posts.
By smith134 at 11:28 PM ON 07/16/09
Terrible, and I certainly want to be self-replication, and ultimately the establishment of a hatred of life, in a growing number of Empire and weak consumption of meat of all things!
It sounds like the death of such a thing robot manufacturers about the music composer!
By Kaylai at 12:55 AM ON 07/17/09
Turns out the story is NOT correct -- the company released a statement saying that their bot is NOT flesh-eating and scolded FoxNews.com and CNET news for running the rumor as fact: http://www.robotictechnologyinc.com/images/upload/file/Cyclone%20Power%20Press%20Release%20EATR%20Rumors%20Final%2016%20July%2009.pdf
By Pika at 6:16 AM ON 07/17/09
Hmmph... obviously....the one thing which could go wrong with it is when it takes up real-living-humans. It could be programmed to auto devour (collecting the carcasses for biofuel).
By Zar at 2:02 PM ON 07/20/09
sacrifice all humans and let us nonhumans survive and devour this puny planet
By karpet at 5:12 PM ON 07/20/09
While RTI says the EATR won't eat people, it doesn't mean it can't. What does the Geneva convention say about repurposing humans? Wait, I don't think terrorists fall under the Geneva Convention.
@Iso Tek - But I have so many "insults and ideological smears " to share?
Oh, I knew they got the story from Fox News, which was shocking really, it was the lag time that was curious.
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karpet:
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