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devil21
07-15-2009, 12:46 AM
It can "feed" on a wide variety of organic matter, even dead bodies. Pretty morbid and kinda Skynet-ish.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,532492,00.html?test=latestnews



It could be a combination of 19th-century mechanics, 21st-century technology — and a 20th-century horror movie.

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.

EATR will be powered by the Waste Heat Engine developed by Cyclone Power Technology of Pompano Beach, Fla., which uses an "external combustion chamber" burning up fuel to heat up water in a closed loop, generating electricity.

The advantages to the military are that the robot would be extremely flexible in fuel sources and could roam on its own for months, even years, without having to be refueled or serviced.

Upon the EATR platform, the Pentagon could build all sorts of things — a transport, an ambulance, a communications center, even a mobile gunship.

In press materials, Robotic Technology presents EATR as an essentially benign artificial creature that fills its belly through "foraging," despite the obvious military purpose.

That'll get us off that damn foreign oil! Maybe they'll build a car that you can feed your neighbor's pets to. 150mpkitty.

Bman
07-15-2009, 12:48 AM
That'll get us off that damn foreign oil! Maybe they'll build a car that you can feed your neighbor's pets to. 150mpkitty.

THat's too funny, but why stop at the pets?

Reason
07-15-2009, 02:56 AM
:eek:

Kludge
07-15-2009, 03:00 AM
This will make for excellent Youtube videos, in the future.

lynnf
07-15-2009, 04:41 AM
so the robots will have an automatic incentive to create dead bodies.....


reminds me of the cartoon with two vultures on a tree limb, one says to the
other "patience, hell.... I'm going to kill something!"


Terminator redux anyone?


lynn

CCTelander
07-15-2009, 06:22 AM
This is such a perfect metaphor for the state that it's hard to imagine one better.

Sick, really.

LittleLightShining
07-15-2009, 06:41 AM
I think the feeding on dead bodies part is extrapolated for shock value.

nayjevin
07-15-2009, 06:55 AM
New military robot feeds on dead bodies

http://i26.tinypic.com/jfkf3m.gif

catdd
07-15-2009, 07:18 AM
That would give it lots of incentive to kill - and it wouldn't care much which side you're on.

zach
07-15-2009, 07:40 AM
Tube it or...

:p

ClayTrainor
07-15-2009, 07:41 AM
So... Terminator 5 might be a documentary??? :D:p

Elwar
07-15-2009, 07:43 AM
This will come in very handy when the zombies start taking over.

Todd
07-15-2009, 08:10 AM
So Soylent Green might be used for Robots some day.

Andrew-Austin
07-15-2009, 08:17 AM
That would give it lots of incentive to kill - and it would care much which side you're on.

I'm not sure robots have "incentives", but rather just follow specific coded instructions.

This is sick.

New York For Paul
07-15-2009, 10:08 AM
Reminds me of the command and conquer game.

You had to go out forage for materials and energy.

Tiberium must be harvested by special vehicles called Harvesters that have to travel to the Tiberium field, harvest it, and return to a refinery to unload the Tiberium for further "processing" into credits.\\

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command_%26_Conquer

UnReconstructed
07-15-2009, 10:23 AM
what is your source? rense?

Original_Intent
07-15-2009, 10:31 AM
So when a tankful of gas costs an arm and a leg - this just cuts out the middle man.

JoshLowry
07-15-2009, 10:36 AM
What is going to stop it from eating live batteries, I mean live bodies?

Edit: It has a chainsaw too...

http://imgur.com/NCHNO.jpg

ClayTrainor
07-15-2009, 10:37 AM
What is going to stop it from eating live batteries, I mean live bodies?

a breakable plastic switch :p

pdavis
07-15-2009, 10:44 AM
Was I the only who thought the title of the thread read: New military robot feeds on dead babies?

paulim
07-15-2009, 11:00 AM
What is going to stop it from eating live batteries, I mean live bodies?


That bodies don't burn, because it would cost much more energy to force the 70% water out, than energy you may receive after that. Therefore the only bodies it might work with are those who are well dried for a year or so.

SLSteven
07-15-2009, 11:10 AM
This will make for excellent Youtube videos, in the future.

The world just keeps getting more entertaining...

JoshLowry
07-15-2009, 11:13 AM
That bodies don't burn, because it would cost much more energy to force the 70% water out, than energy you may receive after that. Therefore the only bodies it might work with are those who are well dried for a year or so.

True.

(I hope that wasn't in the article, I didn't read it.) :o

LittleLightShining
07-15-2009, 11:19 AM
True.

(I hope that wasn't in the article, I didn't read it.) :oI still think, based on the article and the supporting information (though I didn't go through the whole pdf) that this dead body consuming aspect of the story is FOX sensationalism.

Anti Federalist
07-15-2009, 11:21 AM
http://www.cnet.co.uk/i/c/blg/cat/blog/tech_cameos/duracell_matrix.jpg

Anti Federalist
07-15-2009, 11:22 AM
Read this:

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=199727

sevin
07-15-2009, 11:56 AM
Read this:

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=199727

Me:

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa229/mdotpandie/gifshiit.gif

devil21
07-15-2009, 03:17 PM
Read this:

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=199727

Now this sounds like it fits with the GPS painting of every front door in America currently underway.

AdamT
07-15-2009, 03:27 PM
This is seriously scary shit. The future of tyranny has arrived.

Mini-Me
07-15-2009, 03:35 PM
Frankly, I think I agree with LittleLightShining. In Back to the Future 2, I'm sure the junk-guzzling time machine could have fed on dead bodies too, but that doesn't mean they'd necessarily make the best or most sought-after fuel source...

MelissaWV
07-15-2009, 03:38 PM
Eh it feeds on organic material, and it's a robot for the military. It stands to reason there might be a corpse or two to chomp on.

Besides! Isn't this more Wall-E than Terminator? Awww the little robot's going to chomp on our bodies perpetually until his little blue-eyed space wuv comes to be with him. :p

FindLiberty
07-15-2009, 07:01 PM
Ron Paul will be away and miss the vote this evening, but I'm planning to give a short live action demo if this technology to Congress tonight! (I'll set the robot's "kill-N-feed" dial way up, past 999, with piers if necessary...)

After this demo [wink wink] they will want* to vote to approve additional funding needed to produce more of these kill-bots and let them lose on the streets to enforce order...

Muuuwa Ha Ha

+++++++++++


*it will make sure none are able to vote, or even fog a mirror, ever again.

dr. hfn
07-15-2009, 09:37 PM
the military industrial complex is evil