my military friend sent this who got it from another friend.... this truly creeps me out and that's saying something!It could be a combination of 19th-century mechanics, 21st-century technology — and a 20th-century horror movie.A Maryland company under contract to the Pentagon is working on a steam-powered robot that would fuel itself by gobbling up whatever organic material it can find — grass, wood, old furniture, even dead bodies (yes you read that right dead bodies!!!!).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," reads the company's Web site.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.

Upon the EATR platform, the Pentagon could build all sorts of things — a transport, an ambulance, a communications center, even a mobile gunship.In press materials, Robotic Technology presents EATR as an essentially benign artificial creature that fills its belly through "foraging," despite the obvious military purpose.

...someone has a nasty sense of humour...EATR eh?

Handy as an ambulance...if they don't make it, just chuck 'em into the "engine" - no need to go all the way back to the morgue...!

Not sure I like the idea of a mostly autonomous device rigged as a gunship that can roam around on it's own for months...that implies that it has to make battlefield decisions on it's own for months at a time with no human intervention...thats even scarier than eating dead bodies to fuel it's "engine"...and what about if it starts to run low on fuel and cant find things to "EAT", but then finds a village or small community...does it kill them and feed it's engine...?

There's a drawing and an article about it here...

http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/10/eatr-robots-are-coming-this-isnt-funny-anymore/

didn't anyone tell them about skynet?

I hope someone in the company has read Isaac;

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

2. A robot must obey any orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

yes I read that article to the other day..that is very creepy

agree... skynet, the matrix do any of these guys watch movies???