Fears of flesh eating military robots untrue says Cyclone Power Technologies Inc. response to rumours circulating on the internet on sites such as FoxNews.com, FastCompany.com and CNET News, about a “flesh eating” robot project, Cyclone Power Technologies Inc. and Robotic Technology Inc. (RTI) would like to set the record straight: This robot is strictly vegetarian, explained a press release from the company.
Cyclone Power Technologies Inc. came under fire after it announced in early July that it has completed the first stage of development for a beta biomass engine system used to power RTI’s Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot (EATR), sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
The autonomous robotic platform is able to perform long-range, long-endurance missions without the need for manual or conventional re-fueling. Instead, the military robots will find, ingest and extract energy from biomass in the environment, explains the company.
“Despite the far-reaching reports that this includes “human bodies,” the public can be assured that the engine Cyclone has developed to power the EATR runs on fuel no scarier than twigs, grass clippings and wood chips – small, plant-based items for which RTI’s robotic technology is designed to forage,” clarified the press release.
Desecration of the dead is a war crime under Article 15 of the Geneva Conventions.
“We completely understand the public’s concern about futuristic robots feeding on the human population, but that is not our mission,” stated Harry Schoell, Cyclone’s CEO. “We are focused on demonstrating that our engines can create usable, green power from plentiful, renewable plant matter.”
The company doesn’t explain how the robots will tell the difference between plant matter and animal or human protein.
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written by Jim Middlesworth , July 23, 2009