The Warring States of NPF - So this is what we'll face after the Robot Uprising...

The Warring States of NPF (http://www.nuklearforums.com/index.php)

- Dead threads (http://www.nuklearforums.com/forumdisplay.php?f=91)

- - So this is what we'll face after the Robot Uprising... (http://www.nuklearforums.com/showthread.php?t=35394)

So this is what we'll face after the Robot Uprising...

Upcoming Military Robot Could Feed on Dead Bodies

Quote:

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.

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.

The advantages to the military are that the robot would be extremely flexible in fuel sources and could roam on its own for months, even years, without having to be refueled or serviced.

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.

� Click here for a brief description of EATR at the Robotic Technology Web site.

� Click here for a much longer overview of the project in PDF format.

� Click here to read about the Cyclone Waste Heat Engine.

We're so fucking boned.

least they're being honest about dead bodies being plentiful in a war zone.

speak for yourself. this is just one step closer to the creation of immortal transhuman cyberbodies, where they can derive power from food instead of a wallplug. that, plus, y'know, being a robo-bodied transhuman means that the robots will be more likely to let me be on their side when the revolution comes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wigmund (Post 951376)

We're so fucking boned.

I concur.

Can you imagine the letters? "Mrs. Johnson, we are sorry to inform you that your husband died valiantly in action by throwing himself on a hand grenade, saving four other men. Unfortunately, we are not able to give you his body for funeral arrangements, as he was eaten by the gigantic corpse-eating robot steam tank. The United States Army expresses it's deepest regrets".

Why are our tax dollars at work stealing ideas from the Matrix?

I can't help but feel that this thing a a complete abomination in every sense of the word. I get biomass, but you can bet your ass there's going to be outcry first time it eats a fallen soldier from its own team to the point where America is going to have to nuke its own people unless they pull and destroy every unit. There's a certain respect for the dead that all humans share. Some hold parties every year, some eat them ritualistically, some just visit their graves, but the idea that a machine of war is going to be precluding closure for the families of the fallen is less of a slippery slope and more actively waiting in line to buy a ticket to Hell. Hell hath no fury like the wrath of a woman scorned, and an angered mother is the most dangerous living thing in all of nature. I'd think the fathers and rest of the family might have a few choice words and irrevocable actions in response, as well. Like "die" and pulling a trigger.

Edit: POS: Don't forget what we're already doing with the Terminator series. You'd think these people never watched a movie in their entire lives.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bluestarultor (Post 951406)

Edit: POS: Don't forget what we're already doing with the Terminator series. You'd think these people never watched a movie in their entire lives.

Just wait until Britain gets their hands on these, and someone hooks them up to the Skynet system as a joke.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bluestarultor (Post 951406)

but the idea that a machine of war is going to be precluding closure for the families of the fallen is less of a slippery slope...

It does put a whole new spin on the concept that "the beast of War hungers."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tev (Post 951409)

It does put a whole new spin on the concept that "the beast of War hungers."

Well, least it'll cut down on the energy bills for the robots, I would love to see the report on the first one that uses a still living human for energy

"Well, Private Johnson was shot in the nuts and fell over in pain, the Robot, seeing the guy passed out from the pain of losing his nuts used him as a source of energy."

Then the report to the widow

"I'm pretty sure ma'am that your husband didn't want to live without his nuts so we're fairly sure he wanted to do his duty and provide energy for our robots to rout the enemy"