SCI/TECH: Fly-eating robot powers itself, page 1

posted on Dec, 31 2004 @ 07:23 AM

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Scientist at an English have developed a robot that powers itself by eating and digesting flies. The flies are attracted by a small amount of human sewage and are broken down for energy. Scientist hope the EcoBot II can be eventually used for military and security uses. The advantage they say is that it does not need heavy batteries or solar power to function.

www.cnn.com
CNN) -- Scientists at the University of the West of England (UWE) have designed a robot that does not require batteries or electricity to power itself.

Instead, it generates energy by catching and eating houseflies.

Dr Chris Melhuish and his Bristol-based team hope the robot, called EcoBot II, will one day be sent into zones too dangerous for humans, potentially proving invaluable in military, security and industrial areas.

Melhuish, who is director of the Intelligent Autonomous Systems Lab at the UWE, told CNN that the EcoBot II was a result of a quest for an intelligent robot that could function without human supervision.

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

Human sewage? AT least troops in the field will be able to provide bait needed to make the bot function. But what if the area in question is clean? I mean if there are no flies to attract, you are pretty much out of luck.

cmdrkeenkid

posted on Dec, 31 2004 @ 08:56 AM

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This was posted in Sci/Tech forum a while ago. Robot that eats flies for power.

makavelli

posted on Dec, 31 2004 @ 09:10 AM

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I guess the whole point of the discovery was that they have create a machine that can function like an organism, in which it recieves it's energy independantly and through digestion. This is only a few steps away from creating one that can break down almost all foods and even different materials as an energy source, but more importantly, they just created the first flesh-eating robot. Can't wait till the bigger ones come out, wonder what they'll be feeding on.

groingrinder

posted on Dec, 31 2004 @ 09:20 AM

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When the robot runs out of flies, it will start eating people.

makavelli

posted on Jan, 1 2005 @ 06:33 AM

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Originally posted by groingrinder
When the robot runs out of flies, it will start eating people.

Nah, but wait untill a larger spiecies of animal becomes overpopulated and they build machines to feed on them. Accident waiting to happen.

"In other news, paris hiltons chilluahua has been found inside of a squirrel control bot"

AgentSmith

posted on Jan, 1 2005 @ 07:29 AM

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Originally posted by groingrinder
When the robot runs out of flies, it will start eating people.

I feel you are onto us Mr Anderson, perhaps you should stop promoting these sort of ideas.......

lepracornman

posted on Jan, 1 2005 @ 07:46 AM

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i hate flys i hate them i hate them i would lvoe to see this invention come to life maybe we could make bigger robots that run on the same system!

makavelli

posted on Jan, 1 2005 @ 09:51 PM

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watch they mass produce these machines, and without all the flies, a mass epidemic of all kinds of diseases fills the air since it's flies that help with the whole decomposing process so that stuff doesn't spoil on the ground. i could see it already.

yourrolemodel1973

posted on Jan, 1 2005 @ 11:31 PM

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Sounds like somebody might be expecting an event with lots of deaths. It would provide the abundance of flies this robot would need to operate. Maybe something where you need to send in a robot because humans won't be able to do the job, like an epidemic of some sort.