Maneating Robots

EATR is a steam-powered robot that can fuel itself by consuming organic material - plants, wooden structures, and even animals and humans. That is correct humans. It can also run on conventional and alternative fuels such as gasoline, propane, coal and French fry grease using a Waste Heat Engine developed by Cyclone Power Technology of Florida. The robot is meant to survive for years on its own.

Robotic Technology Inc, contractor to the Pentagon, is designing and manufacturing a foraging robot. Named the Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot, EATR, according to RTI’s webstie is "an autonomous robotic platform able to perform long-range, long-endurance missions without the need for manual or conventional re-fueling."

Since this is going to a military robots it will be eating plenty of human corpses in the battlefield after all as Fox News reported, “Our carcasses and those of other animals are, apparently, full of energy.” Assurance is given that EATR will not be dining on our troops, only on the enemy’s.

The robot could put the U.S. military one step closer to an autonomous robot able to perform long-range, long-endurance missions without the need for manual or conventional refueling, thereby protecting human soldiers.

The EATR isn’t the only “alternative” fuel robot being developed now. UK designers James Auger and Jimmy Loizeau have a prototype clock that traps insects or mice on flypaper stretched across its roller system before depositing them into a vat of bacteria. The chemical reaction or "digestion" process transforms the “fuel” into power that runs the rollers and the LCD clock.

The designer have also developed another robot whose arm plucks insects from spider webs and a lamp powered by insects lured into the lamp’s trap by an ultraviolet LEDs. The idea I assume is to power lamps and other household appliances through alternative fuels at the same time aiding to eliminate household pest.

The American military is not the only country to explore the possibilities of robots in the battlefield. The Australian military is having a competition to see who can develop an autonomous robot to help with dangerous surveillance missions. Israel has already developed a snake robot perfect for surveillance. The two feet long snake robot can crawl along the ground, climb through rubble and debris, and even stand erect. It can broadcast audio and video, is self propelled and can be wired by explosives. Aside from spying on you and creeping you out, the snake robot can kill as well.

Moving away from autonomous robots for a bit, Cyberdyne’s HAL is a cybernetic bodysuit, which could make you run faster and be stronger. Though there are a few companies making cybernetic bodysuits, Cyberdyne’s is almost ready for mass production and is said to be priced for under $5,000.

There are robotic companies doing all sort of research and making all sorts of robots. Some are developing the perfect eye, others are trying to create skin, others are trying give robots the ability to convey and understand emotions. The developers are trying to make robots that can jump, give instructions, be intuitive, hold thing delicately, learn, sense and conversed. Due to the technical advances, the rate at which these projects are succeeding is only speeding up. And it may not be too soon when a serious discussion over robotic morals will be in the public forum.

Imagine a combination of all the robotic research going on at the moment. Imagine a robot looking and behaving like a human or animal. That can feed off of anything, survive for years, is extremely deadly and has the ability to learn. Now imagine an entire military platoon of them and imagine them on our enemies’ side.

This once used to be Science Fiction. It is now Non-Fiction.

Here is a link to an article about GI Joe style robotic body suits http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/3839287-an-invention-that-will-change-us-forever