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]

[chansthename Posted Jun 29th 2009 7:31AM]

Slow news day engadget?

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 29th 2009 7:46AM]

I am thinking, how abt a car that runs on roadkill

Suddenly I have a picture.. car chasing deers because its "hungry" gosh that'd be scary

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 29th 2009 7:54AM]

That'd be awesome >.

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 29th 2009 7:54AM]

I need one of these

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 29th 2009 8:54AM]

*Time* to die, fly.

[Kid Red Posted Jun 29th 2009 9:24AM]

WTF

[John Stracke Posted Jun 29th 2009 9:34AM]

Use it to power a bug zapper.

[GGG Posted Jun 29th 2009 9:40AM]

They actually made an insect powered bug zapper if you check out the read link

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 29th 2009 9:47AM]

Time flies (yeah, I said it 'cuz someone had to)...when you're motivated by hatred of vermin! This is awesome...now, we can expand this to all God's little creatures that suck.

[vicdezen Posted Jun 29th 2009 9:56AM]

This reminds me a bit of venus flytraps or pitcher plants, carnivorous plants that eat small animals and insects. Pretty interesting stuff, if not a little morbid.

[Hackettman Posted Jun 29th 2009 11:14AM]

Great idea.......

[neoprimalgmailcom Posted Jun 29th 2009 11:31AM]

You won't think it's 'right' when in 1000 years they evolve and catch humans in, um...humanpaper.

[n1hmrd Posted Jun 29th 2009 11:48AM]

sos when i use this to power my home from left over food,etc

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 29th 2009 12:14PM]

It's a sad state when humanity reduces killing to something done for trivial amusement. Will version 2.0 grind up puppies instead? Uncool and unnecessary.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 7th 2009 8:13PM]

Ok there, Mother Theresa. Clearly you've never had a pest problem.

[Crockett Posted Jun 29th 2009 12:54PM]

It's been said but I gotta say it;

Don't let peta see this!

[cormin Posted Jun 29th 2009 1:27PM]

wow, how long has this technology been around that we can get energy from living things? also is it only small things?

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 1st 2009 3:17PM]

Most animals and what not have already discovered that by eating they can "power up" by digesting other animals and what not, we humans have also discovered this unique ability long before this... clock.. ever did.. And we don't need flypaper to eat either..

[Celanor Posted Jun 29th 2009 4:47PM]

And thus, the Matrix begins...

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 30th 2009 3:36PM]

If the robot can digest, it means it needs to go to the bathroom too.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/55061772@N00/3675507659/

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 30th 2009 4:09PM]

Cool.

It eats. It digests.

Does it crap too?

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 30th 2009 7:31PM]

Wow. Please do not upgrade that machine so it could walk or something. Or the future is going to be war between human and machines that's hungry for blood. Right now, the clock is not alive and can't walk, even if it starves itself of food (blood), it will just turn itself off because there's nothing it can do about it.

But if we give that clock some legs, and maybe a brain and an pair of eyes, it WILL go out and try to find it's own food.

That would be the start of deadly artificial intelligence that doesn't need humans to work it. It would find it's own blood and kill whatever it sees.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 1st 2009 3:39AM]

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[(Unverified) Posted Jul 1st 2009 11:20AM]

Couldn't this technology make prisons a great candidate for power plants?

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 6th 2009 7:34AM]

Given the fuel cell can only generate 0.2 milliwatts of electricity
there's not much hope that the technology can run your home.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 10th 2009 7:13PM]

we need one for middle east, eat israelis and eat me if you want as well
DONT LEAVE ANYBODY

and only then, middle east would turn into a productive area producing energy for the rest of the world, instead of being the gold diggers and beggars that consume the whole world's money