Universal Ramblings

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.

This one grabs flies, mice or other small creatures, scrapes them into a microbial fuel cell vat of bacteria that breaks down the biological material into pure robot-loving energy. No word on if the vat removes the fibrous material or if it’s dishwasher safe.

But after a string of headlines that labelled the machine a “corpse eater” and “creepy”, the robot’s creators have gone on a PR offensive to extinguish the rumour that their invention will feed on human or animal flesh.

“We completely understand the public’s concern about futuristic robots feeding on the human population, but that is not our mission,” said Harry Schoell, the chief executive of Cyclone Power Technologies, one of the companies behind the machine.

The concept was originally put forward in 2003, and has been pushed forward with money from the US military’s Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa), a successor to the organisation that funded early development of the internet.

US officials hope the steam-powered engine can be used by the military to create a self-sufficient robot that could survive on its own for months at a time.

The early version of Eatr runs on twigs, wood chips and other plant-based material. This is fed into an engine that burns it and uses it to create propulsion.

Another of the robot’s inventors, Dr Robert Finkelstein of Robotic Technology Inc (RTI), said that Eatr had built-in systems that would help it determine whether material that it ingested was animal, vegetable or mineral.

“If it’s not on the menu, it’s not going to eat it,” Finkelstein told Fox News.

Eatr can also use more conventional fuels, such as petrol, diesel or cooking oil, to keep going. But the group reiterated that it would be illegal to create a robot that used dead bodies for energy.