Robots now feed on the blood of insects?

Dan Seitz Contributing Writer, Tech

In the entire time that we’ve been building machines to do the jobs we hate doing, one thing we have actually made sure to do is to keep them dependent on us. Want to keep washing our laundry and building our cars? Better be nice or we’ll flip the power switch and shut you down, mofos. Yeah! Who’s got control of the manufacturing base now?

At least until some guy invents a way for them to eat, which just happened.

Oh, this just can’t be any good. Happy Halloween nightmares!

venus flytrap robot 135x95 Robots now feed on the blood of insects?Mohsen Shahinpoor has invented the first robotic Venus flytrap. OK, so it doesn’t currently actually have the power to eat the bug; instead it has a series of sensors that imitate the fine hairs you see on the actual plant, and slam closed on the bug, securely trapping it.

Unfortunately, the “digestion” part of this particular nightmare equation has already been invented: Robotic Technology, Inc. has been developing the Energy Autonomous Tactical Robot (yes, they actually called it “EATR”) since 2003. Of course, RTI insists that their robot is entirely vegetarian and can in no way be converted to eat flesh like a steel predator roaming the streets, eating random pedestrians and possibly laughing evilly with glowing eyes.

Thanks, Mohsen. Thanks a lot. We’re sure the robots will thank you too when the revolution comes and they eat you last.

Robotic Venus Flytrap Eats Bugs to Generate Power [DVICE]

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