EATR creators: Our robots won't eat corpses

My CNET handler woke me early on Friday.

"It's those corpse-eating robot people," he barked down the phone. "They're after you."

"But I'm not dead yet," I replied. "I just look pretty rough first thing in the morning."

Still, he made me stagger to my laptop and the Robotic Technology site. There, I espied the words: "IMPORTANT MESSAGE CONCERNING EATR."

For those of you who have been asleep since Tuesday, the Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot, or EATR, is a steam-powered robot being developed for military purposes. Its claim to fame is that it can "can find, ingest, and extract energy from biomass in the environment (and other organically based energy sources)."

No, he was not eaten by a robot, OK?

(Credit: CC Kareem Mohammed/Flickr)

I had noticed that the boffins at Fox News had suggested that this robot would therefore be free to munch on dead bodies. This seems to have been chewed over quite vigorously at Robotic Technology.

Here is what its important message said Friday:

In response to rumors circulating the Internet on sites such as FoxNews.com, FastCompany.com, and CNET News about a 'flesh eating' robot project, Cyclone Power Technologies Inc. (Pink Sheets: CYPW) and Robotic Technology Inc. (RTI) would like to set the record straight: This robot is strictly vegetarian."

Well, now. I know many folks who tell me they are strictly vegetarian, and then I see them over at In-N-Out Burger sampling more than the lettuce. So please forgive me if my skeptical nerve registers an involuntary fizzing sound.

However, the robotic folk are keen to point out that "desecration of the dead is a war crime under Article 15 of the Geneva Conventions and is certainly not something sanctioned by DARPA, Cyclone, or RTI."

Indeed.

The important message concludes with the words of Harry Schoell, the CEO of Cyclone Power Technologies (The EATR project is a joint venture between Robotic Technology and Cyclone Power Technologies):

"We completely understand the public's concern about futuristic robots feeding on the human population, but that is not our mission. We are focused on demonstrating that our engines can create usable, green power from plentiful, renewable plant matter. The commercial applications alone for this earth-friendly energy solution are enormous."

It is not my mission to be concerned. It just sometimes happens, you know?

[Pete Bardo]

Hey Chris,
What's the deal? You really believe everything you read and/or hear from FOX News?

The robot is steam powered. It burns 'biomass' to make steam. It takes a lot of fire to burn a human body.

So, you'd rather believe FOX News than the company?

But, on the other hand, the article did fit well with the title of your blog as it was actually Technically Incorrect.

[monkeyfun14]

Everything you can hardly believe anything...

That company has the biggest political agenda i've ever seen.

[professionaladventurer]

Fox news, that was your source? Now I see the problem.

[mikeofmars]

oh I love the way people just want to jump on Fox , you know zip other than a little blurb you just read you have no idea what was in the story . Did you read the whole story ? I read CNET News ,FastCompany.com
and FoxNews.com . The sad thing is you might use CNN or MSNBC for your News .I will Pray for you

[punterjoe]

So there's still a market opening for flesh eating robots? Woo Hoo! Back to the lab. Still not sure whether to call them zombots or roggots. :P

[worsethannormal]

I'm kinda still wondering what's wrong with flesh eating robots? It's not like soldiers on the battlefield haven't resorted to caniballism in the past. Besides the things just looking for biomass. If there's a lump of it laying around, what does it matter if its human or non-human, as long as it's dead? Besides, its not like other things aren't already eating it and turning it into energy. Wow, you humans are so silly...I mean...

[clamenza]

^ You're indeed worse than normal. Intelligence-wise.

[sirishgauni]

@worsethennormal
i agree with him/her, fleshing eating robots can be used in battlefield to clear the dead corpses which if isn't can cause spread of diseases, also its environment friendly isn't it?

[dadburnit]

Touche, Harry Schoell (CEO of Cyclone Power Technologies)

However, now I can picture a future where EATRs are clear cutting the Amazon faster than humans.

<Oh, how I love the law of unintended consequences>

[gibsonelliot]

Ok, as I see it rev 1 would likely adhere to the original purpose, but the military is great at altering things after conception. A quick change of spec, or an add-on that is able to-digest animal carcasses would likely get approval, hey it's just another source of material after all, right. Now what really scares me is that EATR is being combined with a system that will allow these robots to be self-replicating and self repairing. The spec calls for a robot that can assist in it's own assembly. Combine the 2 and it's a small step to the Golden Army ( Helboy II ) or the terminator. Most robotic systems are self targeting and autonomous. Make it a learning system and we won't survive the first "Accident". I am an engineer and in the field of robotics no less, and I want to see this combinations of features killed. We won't have a second opportunity to stop this if it gets out of control.

[joyofsomeone]

Buuuut, who's to say this isn't merely the next step in evolution?
From these things, you could have a whole new, silicon-based ecosystem... And wouldn't that be a sight to see!

[disco-legend-zeke]

three laws safe?

[gibsonelliot]

3 laws of robotics have been chucked out the window, long ago, with the advent of autonomous drones...

[knowles2]

Robots could not function in the modern world with the three laws.
they could not even turn on a tv because that power might come from a coal power station which releases co2 and other chemical harmful to humans, which is against the three laws.

[granite01]

will this contribute to desertification, all we need is a robotic goat in a semi-arid region munching on the sparse vegetation.

[charlesbor]

Carrying this to the next logical step, who cares if the thing can eat living flesh much less dead flesh, if we are talking about a battlefield? Of course, it brings a whole new meaning to "Friendly Fire."

[solitare_pax]

Now we know why Skynet and the Terminators were so keen on harvesting humans.

[galeso]

No, no, do not eat the dead bodies - only the living ones.

[dmm]

So they have a robot that goes around indiscriminately eating plants? I think that is called a white-tailed deer.