Carnivorous Clock eats bugs, begins doomsday countdown

It's not enough that humans gave robots a place to congregate to plan our demise, now we've adapted them with the ability to extract fuel from the very nectar of life. All that innocent experimentation with fuel cells that run on blood has led to this, a flesh-eating clock. This prototype time-piece from UK-based designers James Auger and Jimmy Loizeau traps insects on flypaper stretched across its roller system before depositing them into a vat of bacteria. The ensuing chemical reaction, or "digestion," is transformed into power that keeps the rollers rollin' and the LCD clock ablaze. The pair offers an alternative design fueled by mice, another contraption whose robotic arm plucks insect-fuel from spider webs with the help of a video camera, and a lamp powered by insects lured to their deaths with ultraviolet LEDs. Man, this is so wrong it has to be right.

[Via Hack a Day, thanks Isaac]

[dsteve303 @ Jun 29th 2009 4:44AM]

Get Obama one of these.

[B3astofthe3ast @ Jun 29th 2009 4:51AM]

He doesn't need one, he has his ninja skills for that.

[Jon @ Jun 29th 2009 8:18AM]

except instead of counting time, it counts his budget deficit. Damn, you'd need alot of flies for that.

[Tristan @ Jun 29th 2009 9:15AM]

except instead of counting time, it counts his budget deficit. Damn, you'd need alot of flies for that.

(Muahahahahahaha - ahem)

[Tristan @ Jun 29th 2009 9:16AM]

doh :S

[OneLove @ Jun 29th 2009 10:01AM]

So the flies would be republicans? (At least they are good for something other than bitching)

[kash @ Jun 29th 2009 10:30AM]

Maybe setting these things up in landfills across the country would be a great idea. New Jersey would double its power generation!

[matt @ Jun 29th 2009 12:31PM]

if jon and tristan aren't part of the same blog spamming group i'll be surprised... exactly the same sentiments guys... take your political agenda elsewhere.

I loved this article read it a couple of days ago and think the lamp would be great for developing countries / rural locations.

[Chad @ Jun 29th 2009 1:50PM]

I could power my house on something like this.

[Ridgecity @ Jun 29th 2009 2:17PM]

I'll wait for the roach version.

[JeremyL @ Jun 29th 2009 3:42PM]

Then maybe Obama would be drawn to the scent and get stuck to the paper. At least he'd be useful then.

[TIMMAH! @ Jun 29th 2009 4:30PM]

Now we just wait for the "ah hah" moment when the machine realizes how much more power it can generate when it consumes it's first human...

[nowayman @ Jun 29th 2009 4:44AM]

second!

[aeth @ Jun 29th 2009 5:05AM]

all we need is a reply to the first post and your brilliant plan is ruined.

[the awesome @ Jun 29th 2009 8:14AM]

If HE had only replied to the first post he would still be second and what he wrote might almost make sense within the context of the conversation. So close. So so close.

[andymac @ Jun 29th 2009 4:45AM]

we invent all the best stuff.

[mrD @ Jun 29th 2009 5:52AM]

no this is worse it eats you ,the matrix just sucks you dry so you get a few years of life first,this just goobles you up!

[NoAndThen @ Jun 29th 2009 8:04AM]

And all these years I've been worried about zombies, and about the robot uprising, and here these assholes are making zombots.

I'm moving to the woods.

[Aaron @ Jun 29th 2009 9:29AM]

@ NoAndThen - Best. Reply. Ever.

[matt @ Jun 29th 2009 12:35PM]

soo what your saying is we need a system that wires into the flies and mice, keeps them alive in purified mouse and "uses" them over a longer term. i see....

[giuliop @ Jun 29th 2009 4:45AM]

Here comes The Matrix.

[prosportnutrition.net @ Jun 29th 2009 4:47AM]

All we need now is a larger one, then we will finally have a place to keep the detainees from Guantanamo Bay

[good grief @ Jun 29th 2009 8:06AM]

Except instead of a clock, it should power a webcam feed [ing]

[MeisterDon @ Jun 29th 2009 4:48AM]

Poor fly...

[Riley @ Jun 29th 2009 4:52AM]

inb4 PETA starts screaming about murder

[404 @ Jun 29th 2009 4:55AM]

It's OK, once they build a bigger one they can show PETA just how quick and painless it is....

[Jay Voorhees @ Jun 29th 2009 8:43AM]

yes, there's nothing like getting devoured alive by flesh eating bacteria. quick and painless indeed. My karate chop obama doll does the job quite well thank you very much.

[Rob @ Jun 30th 2009 1:50PM]

They have started screaming bloody murder --

http://blog.peta.org.uk/2009/carnivorous-robot-pleased-to-eat-you/comment-page-1#comment-8821

I think everyone here owes them a comment or two ;-).

[Burt Reynolds @ Jun 29th 2009 4:59AM]

An official Dethklok?


Brutal.

[Dylan @ Jun 29th 2009 5:34AM]

+1 for the laugh. :)

I for one welcome our new blood-hungry overlords.

[Idlemind @ Jun 29th 2009 12:51PM]

we could feed it deathrow inmates...

[Zane @ Jun 29th 2009 4:59AM]

Wow that's awesome!

[joseph le brech @ Jun 29th 2009 5:00AM]

Soylent Power

[avis @ Jun 29th 2009 5:05AM]

Matrix real life

[avis @ Jun 29th 2009 5:06AM]

cannot the robot be vegetarian?

[Bernhard @ Jun 29th 2009 5:12AM]

What happens if you get your tongue stuck to one of those?

[-Tj- @ Jun 29th 2009 8:19AM]

Assuming you like to lick fly paper, you'd just have to wait for the scraper to remove your tongue from it.

[CJ @ Jun 29th 2009 8:33AM]

Yeaaaahhhh... HOW often exactly is that going to be an issue for you?

[giuliop @ Jun 29th 2009 8:44AM]

YOU become part of the machine.

[MisterMooth @ Jun 29th 2009 5:17AM]

PETA isn't gonna like this

[simonegallina @ Jun 29th 2009 5:29AM]

it reminds me the beginning of Terry Gillian's BRAZIL!
that will start burocracy breakdown...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088846/synopsis

[bjay @ Jun 29th 2009 5:41AM]

Now we taking life for our power consumption?

Damn, didn't know "The Matrix" rendition ll be making it to the real world so soon

[John @ Jun 29th 2009 8:07AM]

next time you have termites in your house, remember how wrong it is to 'take life'.

[John Stracke @ Jun 29th 2009 9:33AM]

"Now we taking life for our power consumption?"

What else is new? Strip mining. Hydro dams. Smog.

[phil.jeddore @ Jun 29th 2009 6:08AM]

Cripes...we now have all the components for a robotic take over of earth...Magnus , we will soon need you!

[tobie @ Jun 29th 2009 6:15AM]

More Carnivorous Domestic Entertainment Robots here:

http://www.materialbeliefs.com/prototypes/cder.php

The Mousetrap coffee table robot uses the same microbial fuel cell technology to digest mice.

[G @ Jun 29th 2009 6:28AM]

damn, this is really scary and disgusting at the same time.


i want one

[Bad Beaver @ Jun 29th 2009 6:29AM]

The LEXX is feeding now...

[Jack Chance @ Jun 29th 2009 6:46AM]

Can these really get enough energy from "eating"?
Or is it more of a concept?

[tobie @ Jun 29th 2009 7:05AM]

hi Jack, these initial versions work mechanically, but use battery or mains for power. Elsewhere, microbial fuel cells have been used to charge a bank of capacitors to power robots, check out the Ecobot project:

http://www.brl.uwe.ac.uk/projects/ecobot/index.html

A next step would be to bring the product design and the cybernetics research together.