Eatr Bots: Body-Eating Battlefield Robots

A DC-based robotics  company contracted by the Pentagon is developing  robots that refuel on biomass. At first, this sounds like a smart, benign move as you consider the robots being manually fed with food scraps, plants, wood, etc. However, when you realize that biomass extends to animal and human corpses and that the robots will be programmed to seek out fuel and refuel themselves, then you have one scary group of zombie-bots staring at you like you’re a giant ribeye. The project is called Energetically Automically Tactical Robot or “EATR”. Here’s what Robotic Technology Inc. has to say about it:

“The purpose of the Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot (EATR)™ (patent pending) project is to develop and demonstrate an autonomous robotic platform able to perform long-range, long-endurance missions without the need for manual or conventional re-fueling, which would otherwise preclude the ability of the robot to perform such missions. The system obtains its energy by foraging – engaging in biologically-inspired, organism-like, energy-harvesting behavior which is the equivalent of eating. It 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.”

So, in other words, these robots will soon be creeping up on you in your sleep and devouring your face. [RTI via Crunch Gear via Oh Gizmo!]