Eyeforalie
07-16-2009, 01:25 AM
ENERGETICALLY AUTONOMOUS TACTICAL ROBOT (EATR) PROJECT (http://www.robotictechnologyinc.com/index.php/EATR)
[offsite:ohppp5ko]We originated the concept of the EATR in 2003 and the project was sponsored as a Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project by an agency of the Department of Defense..
The purpose of the Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot (EATR) (patent pending) project is to develop and demonstrate an autonomous robotic platform able to perform long-range, long-endurance missions without the need for manual or conventional re-fueling, which would otherwise preclude the ability of the robot to perform such missions. The system obtains its energy by foraging engaging in biologically-inspired, organism-like, energy-harvesting behavior which is the equivalent of eating. It 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.
This demonstration project can lead to three potential Phase III commercialization projects: (1) the development of prototype and operational EATR systems for military and civil applications; (2) new civil and military applications for the autonomous intelligent control system; and (3) development of the hybrid external combustion engine system for civil and military automotive applications, whether for manned or unmanned vehicles.[/offsite:ohppp5ko]
"I find it appropriate to read about this on Fox News"
fromPharyngula (http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/07/i_find_it_appropriate_to_read.php)
[offsite:ohppp5ko]The military has plans for a new kind of drone robot that will wander the wastelands of future battlefields, scooping up organic debris such as dead bodies and burning them to fuel their advance. The call it an EATR: Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot.
It's kind of sweet, in a morbid way. It recycles! It uses renewable energy! Put a gun on it, and it could even harvest its own fuel as it mows its way through the enemy's cities!
To be perfectly fair, though, the company building it doesn't talk about using bodies for energy, but is more about generic biomass. Bodies are probably messy and inefficient compared to hunks of wood or corn stubble. It's Fox News that emphasized the corpse-eating idea, which somehow seems like just the kind of thing Fox would find copacetic.[/offsite:ohppp5ko]
Upcoming Military Robot Could Feed on Dead Bodies (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,532492,00.html?test=latestnews)
from Fox for the fuck of it-
[offsite:ohppp5ko]It could be a combination of 19th-century mechanics, 21st-century technology and a 20th-century horror movie.[/offsite:ohppp5ko]
[offsite:ohppp5ko]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.[/offsite:ohppp5ko]
As much as Fox is sensationalizing it, these robots, if used, seem to have the intended purpose of gobbling up dead people on a battle field.
Thats wicked.
[offsite:ohppp5ko]We originated the concept of the EATR in 2003 and the project was sponsored as a Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project by an agency of the Department of Defense..
The purpose of the Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot (EATR) (patent pending) project is to develop and demonstrate an autonomous robotic platform able to perform long-range, long-endurance missions without the need for manual or conventional re-fueling, which would otherwise preclude the ability of the robot to perform such missions. The system obtains its energy by foraging engaging in biologically-inspired, organism-like, energy-harvesting behavior which is the equivalent of eating. It 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.
This demonstration project can lead to three potential Phase III commercialization projects: (1) the development of prototype and operational EATR systems for military and civil applications; (2) new civil and military applications for the autonomous intelligent control system; and (3) development of the hybrid external combustion engine system for civil and military automotive applications, whether for manned or unmanned vehicles.[/offsite:ohppp5ko]
"I find it appropriate to read about this on Fox News"
fromPharyngula (http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/07/i_find_it_appropriate_to_read.php)
[offsite:ohppp5ko]The military has plans for a new kind of drone robot that will wander the wastelands of future battlefields, scooping up organic debris such as dead bodies and burning them to fuel their advance. The call it an EATR: Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot.
It's kind of sweet, in a morbid way. It recycles! It uses renewable energy! Put a gun on it, and it could even harvest its own fuel as it mows its way through the enemy's cities!
To be perfectly fair, though, the company building it doesn't talk about using bodies for energy, but is more about generic biomass. Bodies are probably messy and inefficient compared to hunks of wood or corn stubble. It's Fox News that emphasized the corpse-eating idea, which somehow seems like just the kind of thing Fox would find copacetic.[/offsite:ohppp5ko]
Upcoming Military Robot Could Feed on Dead Bodies (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,532492,00.html?test=latestnews)
from Fox for the fuck of it-
[offsite:ohppp5ko]It could be a combination of 19th-century mechanics, 21st-century technology and a 20th-century horror movie.[/offsite:ohppp5ko]
[offsite:ohppp5ko]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.[/offsite:ohppp5ko]
As much as Fox is sensationalizing it, these robots, if used, seem to have the intended purpose of gobbling up dead people on a battle field.
Thats wicked.