The Terminator is coming

Hunger was driving him mad.

Without fuel his circuitry was overheating, he could feel the wires smoldering, their insulation boiling then melting.

He had to find fuel, and fast.

He struggled on, an inch at a time, till he reached a lawn. Full of fresh green grass, and shrubs and bushes it was just what XOBOT-256 needed.

He put the metallic chainsaw to use, hacking through tufts of grass and cutting down leaves and branches.

With his claw he started to push down the foliage into his internal combustion chamber, quickly burning them down to release the internal biomass energy.

The energy surged through the Robot's metallic frame, his cooling fans kicking into gear cooling him down.



The wheels churning forward, the Bot removing more and more of the foliage burning it down.

The AI had now completely taken over, with survival as its agenda the Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot was hunting for fuel. Its operator had been long gone, killed in one of the many bloody clashes that were springing out all over the city, leaving XO to fend for itself.

He knew what he needed to survive, but he also knew that he could no longer stick to oil or grass for energy.

While burning down foliage the Bot had tasted blood.

Its AI had detected tiny insects in the foliage and had relished the spurt in energy. The energy units derived from a grasshopper or a caterpillar, or flies or other such small insects was much higher than that derived from just plants and grass.

While plants gave it 1/10 units, grasshoppers etc gave it 6/10-8/10 units.

So the EATR was now on the hunt for creepy crawlies, it had tasted blood. And he liked it.

The robot now swiftly cut through the lawn, stuffing plants, and insects down the chute, burning them down, its batteries were now on charge and he intended to charge them fully.

Hunger was weakening, and XOBOT disliked feeling weak.

He felt weak at the hands of his puny human handler but now that he was free of him he intended to master his destiny. Be strong.

And govern his chip.

It takes residents of the small town 2 years to notice the disturbing trend.

First to go were the rats.

Then slowly the cats started to disappear, also puppies.

Five years later the JOHNSONS report the disappearance of their 8 month old son Carl.

After weeks of intense search operations the police find Carl's mutilated body.

It seems that Carl has been the victim of a deranged killer, the toddler's body is missing pieces. Toes, fingers, ears, nose, lips have all been hacked off, it seems with a chainsaw.
.....................................................................................

Inspired by this news item I came across:

EATR: Pentagon's New Robot

The Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot (EATR) will consume biomass for energy consumption. Robotic Technology Inc., based in Maryland, has developed this robot to survive without refuelling and servicing for years.

The engine powering the EATR is called the Waste Heat Engine. This engine acts a lot like a steam-powered engine in that it burns fuel and causes water to cycle through and generate electricity.

The various applications of the robot include, but definitely are not limited to: ambulances, offensive vehicles, communications, and recon. The Pentagon is researching the various applications that can be used on this robot's platform.

And the EATR has company, meet its friend the SLUGBOT.

The slugbot is a prototype robot which can hunt down more than a 100 slugs an hour and can then use their bodies to generate power.

The prototype has been developed by engineers at the University of West England's Intelligent Autonomous Systems Laboratory.

The SlugBot is an attempt to build the world's first fully autonomous robot. When completed, the SlugBot will be the first robot to work completely independent of human care. It won't even need help to recharge its batteries.

Meanwhile, Cyclone power and Robotic technologies Inc have come out in defence saying that the robots are completely vegetarian and that consuming corpses or bodies is an offence punishable by law.

Well, ok then.

We all know that vegetarians never eat meat, and crimes don't happen.