Killer - it kills flies Self-sustaining - it eats flies

Chris Melhuish and his team of robotics experts at the University of the West of England in Bristol are developing a robot that catches flies and digests them in a special reactor cell that generates electricity. So what is the downside? The robot will most likely have to attract the hapless flies by using a stinking lure concocted from human excrement. With a top speed of 10 centimetres per hour, EcoBot II's roving prowess is still modest to say the least. "Every 12 minutes it gets enough energy to take a step forwards two centimetres and send a transmission back," says Melhuish. But it does not need to catch too many flies to do so, says team member Ioannis Ieropoulos. In tests, EcoBot II travelled for five days on just eight fat flies

The only limit to this idea is things they can eat. Nobody really minds if a few robots eat a few flies. I'd like to see a robot that ate seagulls and cleaned our beaches, but not everyone hates seagulls as much as I do....

Source: New Scientist