Source: CNN.com (http://www.cnn.com/)
Link: http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/12/27/explorers.ecobot/index.html
Title: "Fly-eating robot powers itself"
Date: December 29, 2004

Scientists at the University of the West of England (UWE) have designed a robot that does not require batteries or electricity to power itself.

Instead, it generates energy by catching and eating houseflies.

Dr Chris Melhuish and his Bristol-based team hope the robot, called EcoBot II, will one day be sent into zones too dangerous for humans, potentially proving invaluable in military, security and industrial areas

CNN.com (http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/12/27/explorers.ecobot/index.html)

How interesting, and even cool. Let's hope it doesn't develop a taste for housecats.

And ... will beef jerky work if we send the thing to Titan?
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Notes:

CNN.com. "Fly-eating robot powers itself". December 29, 2004. See http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/12/27/explorers.ecobot/index.html

Remember, for a carnivorous robot it's a short jump from dead insects to your laser-blasted skeleton...

the matrix:p

we are the powerplant

aren't carnivorous robots called human beings ? :D

there was a robot a few years back that ate slugs, and of course there were huge animal rights issues associated with this so it never really got off the ground

With the developments in AI and Robots, we seem to be getting really close to creating artificial life. This world will undoubtably be a very different place by the close of the century. Wow!

............... Whoa................ really, generating power using internal mechanism is great, but intaking organic material? Whoa......

Plant eating seems much more logical, but not as sensational :)

Eating decaying rubbish would be better of course, and its already in a state to be used.


Lava

With the developments in AI and Robots, we seem to be getting really close to creating artificial life.Uh...since when have we developed AI?

I heard it smells like a shithouse.

The thing's no terminator yet. You could smell it a mile away.

It uses raw human sewage to attract the flies, and has a top sped of 4" per hour. But it does demonstrate the concept, and I'm sure the tech will be developed.

Lava