Zombie Military Robot

Military Robotics

Talk about twisted minds, Robotic Technology Inc.'s Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot — or "EATR" will be able to fuel itself by digesting any type of organic material it can find, including dead human bodies. Maybe we should call it robo-zombie.

A Maryland company under contract to the Pentagon is working on a steam-powered robot that would fuel itself by eating up whatever organic material it can find — grass, wood and even dead bodies; whether human or otherwise.

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."

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 other words, EATR is a foundation that just about any type of robot could be built, and for any purpose. A little creepy that a robotic entity would be allowed to roam for years while refueling itself on whatever it can find.

I wonder how they make the decision on whether humans or animals are alive?

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