Robot eats flies to generate its own power
Found on MSNBC on Wednesday, 08 September 2004
British scientists are developing a robot that will generate its own power by eating flies.
The idea is to produce electricity by catching flies and digesting them in special fuel cells that will break down sugar in the insects' skeletons and release electrons that will drive an electric current.
Chris Melhuish and his team, who are developing the robot, have to manually feed the flies to EcoBot II because they are still designing some type of pump to suck the insects into it.
Hence the downside of the fully autonomous robot: it will have to use sewage or excrement to attract the flies and is bound to smell appalling.
The idea itself is neat. And it's surprising that flies can be used to produce enough power to run a robot. I wonder if the robot sets some sort of trap mechanism so it will be able to catch a fly even if it ran out of power. Otherwise, there might be a problem during the winter.