Fly-Powered Robot
If this is what autonomous robotics has come to, count me out. The robot known as Ecobot II will generate its own energy by catching and digesting flies in a special reactor cell that generates electricity. The robot’s energy source is the sugar in the polysaccharide called chitin that makes up a fly’s exoskeleton. Ecobot II traveled for five days on just eight fat flies. Its developers at the University of the West of England in Bristol want to ultimately make the machine predatory–using human excrement as bait to catch the insects. Somehow you have to think there’s got to be a better way.
Keep Reading
Most Popular
Geoffrey Hinton tells us why he’s now scared of the tech he helped build
“I have suddenly switched my views on whether these things are going to be more intelligent than us.”
Deep learning pioneer Geoffrey Hinton has quit Google
Hinton will be speaking at EmTech Digital on Wednesday.
Video: Geoffrey Hinton talks about the “existential threat” of AI
Watch Hinton speak with Will Douglas Heaven, MIT Technology Review’s senior editor for AI, at EmTech Digital.
Doctors have performed brain surgery on a fetus in one of the first operations of its kind
A baby girl who developed a life-threatening brain condition was successfully treated before she was born—and is now a healthy seven-week-old.
Stay connected
Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review
Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.