Upcoming Military Robot Could Feed on Dead Bodies

**Nermy2k** · 07-15-2009, 01:28 PM

A Maryland company under contract to the Pentagon is working on a steam-powered robot that would fuel itself by gobbling up whatever organic material it can find — grass, wood, old furniture, even dead bodies.

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.

FULL STORY

**Vengeful Scars** · 07-15-2009, 07:59 PM

I was wondering today if it was possible to get a machine that could operate off of calories.

**Anonymous D** · 07-15-2009, 08:03 PM

Great. We need some military robots that can keep them selves running.

**sycld** · 07-15-2009, 08:30 PM

Originally Posted by Vengeful Scars

I was wondering today if it was possible to get a machine that could operate off of calories.

everything operates off calories in the same way that everything moves in miles per hour

**faesce** · 07-16-2009, 12:03 AM

these things need to roll straight the fuck off the assembly line and start eating their makers and shit

**Syme** · 07-16-2009, 12:44 AM

I'd be extremely shocked if this kind of technology could compete with electrical energy storage given the advances in battery, etc., technology that we will probably see over the next couple decades. Sounds like another one of DARPA's "let's look at this just for fun" programs.

Also, what does it mean when it lists "solar" along with the hydrocarbon fuels that this thing could run on? You can't eat solar power. Do they mean that it would be equipped with photovoltaic cells along with the biomass-fueled power supply? Such a system would be entirely separate from, and unrelated to, the system that allowed it to extract energy from organic materials.

**no_brains_no_worries** · 07-16-2009, 12:46 AM

And so the Matrix begins...

**howie_b** · 07-16-2009, 10:13 AM

Originally Posted by Vengeful Scars

I was wondering today if it was possible to get a machine that could operate off of calories.

give me a holler if ever you found one!

**MalReynolds** · 07-16-2009, 10:35 AM

I hate robots.

**simonj** · 07-16-2009, 10:41 AM

If it doesn't fuck the bodies first then this is not interesting.

**coqauvin** · 07-16-2009, 11:09 AM

i love the idea of something that can kill its meal let's make thousands of them

**TheDudeFish** · 07-16-2009, 01:02 PM

I for one welcome our new robot overlords.

**TheGreatSocrates** · 07-22-2009, 08:15 PM

Originally Posted by updated article

"Despite the far-reaching reports that this includes “human bodies,” the public can be assured that the engine Cyclone (Cyclone Power Technologies Inc.) has developed to power the EATR runs on fuel no scarier than twigs, grass clippings and wood chips -- small, plant-based items for which RTI’s robotic technology is designed to forage. Desecration of the dead is a war crime under Article 15 of the Geneva Conventions, and is certainly not something sanctioned by DARPA, Cyclone or RTI."

What a let down.