Robot Centipedes About to be Put to Work

Small robot insects looking like and built like centipedes may be released into specific circumstances which require certain tasks to be accomplished.

The new thing about these microrobots is their ability to carry much more than their own weight, which could ultimately lead to them being independent. That means they may be able to carry a power source.

That leads to another challenge: There really aren't any power sources out there at this time which would all them to run much more than about 10 minutes. If that can be overcome, some of the potential tasks they could be sent to do would be more realistic, and done in a efficient time frame.

All microrobots at this time, including these new ones from the University of Washington, are only able to move at a snails' pace of about 3 feet an hour. Some are much slower than that, which could be detrimental to their purpose if time is a factor in their missions.

The big advancement in these little robots is the ability to carry far more than their weight. That provides the potential for a power source to be created which would allow it to operate for much longer periods of time.

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?

Robotic Trends