One might ask what, if any, ethical restraints will be written into the programming of this thing, or does it just "graze" its way around the battlefield until all the "food" is gone, then die of natural causes? Keith Laumers books on the Bolo describe this sort of thing happening with immensely powerful battlefield robots, the people with the command codes long dead, some of the most powerful ones rendering whole planets unaproachable.Robotic Technology Inc.'s Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot — that's right, "EATR" — "can find, ingest, and extract energy from biomass in the environment (and other organically-based energy sources), as well as use conventional and alternative fuels (such as gasoline, heavy fuel, kerosene, diesel, propane, coal, cooking oil, and solar) when suitable," reads the company's Web site.
That "biomass" and "other organically-based energy sources" wouldn't necessarily be limited to plant material — animal and human corpses contain plenty of energy, and they'd be plentiful in a war zone.
This thing looks more like an attempt to weaponize a cow, but hey, it's a start. I could imagine a post-apocalyptic population hunting these things once they run out of ammo, to convert them into stationary generators or human controled tractors for individual farms, running on cow flops. Sort of like Mad Max, only without everyone wearing kinky leather outfits.
2 comments:
Hmmmm. Ya know, a movie about Bolos vs. Berserkers would be pretty cool, as long as it wasn't to much like Transformers.
Toward the end Laumer had a story that introduced the Anti-berserker, a small robotic vessel that gave off a unique radio signature that every berserker immediately recognized and feared.
Sort of like Transformers, only in space where the collateral damage was reduced.
How about berserkers vs the Borg?
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