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)."
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?
Chris Matyszczyk is an award-winning creative director who advises major corporations on content creation and marketing. He brings an irreverent, sarcastic, and sometimes ironic voice to the tech world. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. 
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.
That company has the biggest political agenda i've ever seen.
and FoxNews.com . The sad thing is you might use CNN or MSNBC for your News .I will Pray for you
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?
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>
From these things, you could have a whole new, silicon-based ecosystem... And wouldn't that be a sight to see!
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.
- by dmm August 5, 2009 7:03 AM PDT
- So they have a robot that goes around indiscriminately eating plants? I think that is called a white-tailed deer.
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