There's a robot eating my lawn

EATR(TM) concept drawing courtesy of Robotic Technology Inc.

Today, Cyclone Power Technologies Inc. announced that it has completed the first stage of its project with Robotic Technology Inc. (RTI), of Potomac, MD, to develop a beta-test biomass engine system which will be used to power RTI’s Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot (EATR™). This is part of a project sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Defense Sciences Office.
 

In this first stage Cyclone successfully coupled its proprietary steam generator with a compact biomass furnace to be used with the prototype EATR, and produced sufficient steam to power Cyclone’s six-cylinder, 16HP Waste Heat Engine (WHE).

RTI’s EATR is an autonomous robotic platform designed to be able to perform long-range, long-endurance military missions without the need for manual or conventional re-fueling. The patent pending robotic system will be able to find, ingest and extract energy from biomass in the environment, as well as use conventional and alternative fuels (such as gasoline, diesel, propane and solar) when suitable. When EATR's stored power drops below a certain level, behavioral algorithms cause it to behave like a biological organism and it goes foraging for suitable fuel (grass, pieces of wood, etc.) which it collects with its robotic arm and then drops into a small hopper that processes the material and feeds it to the compact biomass furnace. The processed biomass is burned in the furnace and the heat generated is used to power the Cyclone steam generator which recharges the depleted energy storage systems.

Able to operate unattended in the field for very long periods, using sustainable biomass fuels with zero toxic emissions and lower greenhouse gas emissions helping us toward energy independence. What more could one want in a robot? Hey! I think that thing is eating my lawn!