What could possibly go wrong with an armed robot that can feast on human flesh?

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Don't worry, EATR is being funded by the Department of Defense, so it will be perfectly safe, of course:
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.
Hat Tip: Grishnash via email.

Fox News helpfully explains:
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.
I feel safer from the terrorists already. Robotron 2084 here we come!

Comments

Anonymous said…
... and I always thought that SkyNet becoming self-aware was the only robotic danger from our near-future. How silly of me. Obviously Terminators that look like Arnold, or possibly psychotic-cops-made-of-liquid-metal, pale next to the possibility of ...

Robot zombies! George Romero needs to know about this.
3:21 PM, July 16, 2009
Anonymous said…
Aha!

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/07/company-denies-its-robots-feed-on-the-dead/
7:35 AM, July 20, 2009
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