News Vampire robot developed

All together now - Euwwwww!

This from the Inq:

A MICRO robot which kills flies and powers itself using their dead bodies, is being developed by British boffins.
The EcoBot II, attracts flies by emitting a stench concocted from human excrement. Once the fly shows up it is sucked into the digestion chambers of the robot where a chemical found in the exo-skeleton will power the whole thing.

The new machine is being developed at the University of the West of England (UWE) in Bristol according to a report published in the New Scientist. The robot can so far operate for five days on just eight fat flies. Of course it does not move much, every 12 minutes it gets enough energy to move an inch and a half, but when you are that smelly it does not matter much.

The research is more promising than the hunter killer robot the team developed to kill slugs. That one used the methane in the slug's body for power. Unfortunately there was not enough of the gas produced quickly enough and a slug could outrun the robot, in fact more often a rock could outrun it.

L'inquage

They've got bio-reactors on the brain....

 

So we get to choose between the odd fly that we can squash/chase out ourselves, or a robot that smells of poo?

 

whoo for British boffins damn they are good

"in fact more often a rock could outrun it"

 

Exactly what I was thinking!
At first I was going, "OO, that would be great for the kitchen at work!" (we cook for 100 3 times a day) Then I saw how it attracted them

Couldn't they find a better smell, like broccoli cheese soup?

 

Pics!

Cool invention tbh.

 

those british boffins are great!!

but i'd prefer a vampire robot that killed mozzies, so long as a rock doesn't outrun it

 

hmm is it just me that can see a slight problem of catching flies in a toxic env.?

 

Sounds great, but for the smell. I'm sure they can work on that