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Carnivorous Clock Eats Bugs

Posted by samzenpus on from the little-office-of-horrors dept.

Designers James Auger and Jimmy Loizeau have created a clock that is powered by "eating" bugs. The clock traps insects on flypaper stretched across a roller system and then drops them into a vat of bacteria. The insects are then "digested" and the ensuing chemical reaction is transformed into power that keeps the rollers moving and the LCD clock working. The two offer another version that is powered by mice and an even cooler machine that picks insect fuel from spiderwebs with the help of a robotic arm and a video camera.

26 of 197 comments (clear)

  1. Bugs? by bluesatin · · Score: 4, Funny

    I won't be buying a first generation one of these, it's bound to have a tonne of bugs.

    1. Re:Bugs? by hargrand · · Score: 5, Funny

      Not only that, if this catches on, it'll just be a matter of time before we start running out of bugs in the US and have to start relying on foriegn sources of bugs.

    2. Re:Bugs? by ElectricRook · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Oil on plastic works as fly-paper. Once the fly touches the oil, it cannot fly. It starts to squirm until a wing touches, then it ain't going anywhere. Soapy water works too.

      A neighbor attached a 10 inch glass disk to an old style computer box fan, and it turned about 15 RPM. He positioned the disk so that it dipped into a half plastic milk carton of vegetable oil. A lamp was positioned to shine on the glass. On the first night, the tank was completely full of bugs (mostly moths), and it looked like mud.

      What I want to know, is the details of the digester, what is the reaction that produces electricity. How do I make that part?

      --
      - High Tech workers, please say NO to Union Carpenters, their Union sees fit to control our compensation.
    3. Re:Bugs? by binarylarry · · Score: 4, Funny

      We haven't figured that part out yet.

      But we do know it was us that scorched the sky or something to that effect.

      --
      Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
  2. have an order by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Could i please have house alarm from same company please?

  3. Cool For now. by jellomizer · · Score: 4, Funny

    Until people start hacking these and needs more power. Then starts going for human flesh.

    --
    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    1. Re:Cool For now. by pr100 · · Score: 3, Funny

      I, for one, welcome our new clock overlords.

    2. Re:Cool For now. by Lord+Ender · · Score: 4, Funny

      "I had to OC my clock, so I added a butterfly trap to get extra energy."

      --
      A slashdotter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber.
    3. Re:Cool For now. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      FEED ME SEYMOUR!

    4. Re:Cool For now. by Kell+Bengal · · Score: 3, Interesting

      It's closer than you think. Just consider the disturbingly named 'EATR': http://www.robotictechnologyinc.com/index.php/EATR Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot. Strikes me that this 'tactical' robot is one programming glitch away from Robocalypse Now.

      --
      Scientists point out problems, engineers fix them
      altslashdot.org: The future of slashdot.
    5. Re:Cool For now. by Darth_brooks · · Score: 3, Funny

      "At the tone, the time will be 11:13am. BEEP."

      "At the sound of your blood curdling screams and unheralded pleas for mercy, the time will be 11:14am."

      --
      There are some people that if they don't know, you can't tell 'em.
  4. Oh sure... by kevinNCSU · · Score: 5, Funny

    Oh sure, everyone's in favor of bug powered clocks, but as soon as you put a pedestrian catcher on the front of your electric SUV to make city driving more efficient then OHHhhh, suddenly you've gone too far!

    1. Re:Oh sure... by 2obvious4u · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I so wanted to spend a mod point on this, since I have them to give away....

      However, you joke of pedestrians, what about a more "realistic" road kill or still funny but more likely to be "true" cat and dog catcher?

  5. Re:Applications by Bryan+Gividen · · Score: 5, Informative

    I think the practical application is that it gets rid of bugs and it tells the time.

  6. Ethical Treatment of Flies by ChienAndalu · · Score: 4, Funny

    Nice to see that PETA is already all over this.

    These bloodthirsty, gut-wrenching robots, designed by UK-based designers James Auger and Jimmy Loizeau thrive on killing and liquidizing flies and mice, whilst serving the purpose of⦠well, not much at all really.

    They even have their own vision of insect disposal.

    I wonder if they target antibacterial soap and penicillin next...

    1. Re:Ethical Treatment of Flies by bluefoxlucid · · Score: 3, Funny

      The universe is hostile, so impersonal; devour to survive, so it is, so it's always been.

      The more PETA irritates me, the more I want to hang dead animals by their necks outside their headquarters at night. And I'm starting to feel encouraged to hang not-quite-dead things that are still wriggling... I used to really like animals....

      --
      Support my political activism on Patreon.
    2. Re:Ethical Treatment of Flies by oldspewey · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I'm of the general opinion that if you manage to piss off PETA, you know you're doing something right.

      --
      If libertarians are so opposed to effective government, why don't they all move to Somalia?
    3. Re:Ethical Treatment of Flies by Bugs42 · · Score: 3, Insightful
      Ok, normally I don't feed the trolls but I've got nothing better to do while my code compiles:

      One of the most profound insights into the nature of human existence was the Milgram Experiment [wikipedia.org]. Basically, most people don't have an internal moral compass: they don't have any inherent aversion to inflicting pain, suffering, and death on others.

      Wrong. Even though the participants in the Milgram experiment complied, they all raised questions about it. Clearly they recognized it as wrong - the findings only say that we, as a species, will submit to authority, NOT that we lack a moral compass.

      --
      Programmer: an ingenious device that converts caffeine into code.
  7. Wow. by FlyingSquidStudios · · Score: 5, Informative

    Talk about a nested series of links. I had to go through 3 separate sites- Slashdot, Endgadget, and Hack-a-Day, one linked to the other, until I got to the original New Scientist gallery photos which had many more interesting robot pictures. Oh, and the end link wasn't to page 1 of the photo gallery and the links weren't obvious each time either. For those who don't want to go the long way around, here is the original link.

    --
    http://twitter.com/OLDTELEGRAM
  8. How about linking to the actual source by weave · · Score: 5, Informative

    Instead of linking to a blog that talks about another blog that refers to and links to the original story, why not just link to the original source to save us from 5 click throughs and give the original authors credit as well?

    Original story: Domestic robots with a taste for flesh

  9. Re:umm...why??? by Culture20 · · Score: 4, Funny

    The power generated might be enough to run one headlight. But what would really be interesting is capturing some of the speed energy to help charge the battery. But with using wind.

    I'll do you one better. Attach a sail to the car so that almost all of the "speed" energy is harvested. Fans harvesting electricity from the "wind" generated by the engine propelling the car is less efficient than the engine just making the electricity.

  10. always a catch by iroll · · Score: 4, Informative

    I figured it was too good to be true:

    Although, for now, the robots rely on mains power, Auger believes they could become truly self-sufficient.

    I like technology-as-art projects, but it'd be much cooler if these things actually *were* powered by bug juice--that is, more like bug powered 75% of the time, with a battery backup or a solar panel (or both) for those days when all the flies have already been eaten--rather than just being combination clock-and-bug-zappers. I'd be interested to see their average power production vs. power consumption.

    --
    Repetition does not transform a lie into the truth. - FDR
  11. Needs mobility by Spy+Handler · · Score: 3, Informative

    This is nothing new, in fact there was an even better robot 5 or 6 years ago in Popular Mechanics that did the same biological digestion-to-electricity conversion, but that one was MOBILE. So theoretically it could walk around catching and eating insects and deriving its power needs from that. Don't know what became of it though, I suppose there were no commercial applications.

    Now if the digestion can be made efficient enough, and if it can catch enough food to store enough surplus energy, maybe it could be made to breed!

  12. Re:Applications by SEWilco · · Score: 3, Funny

    The piratical application involves man sized recepticals and a sign that "Get off my lawn! Trespassers will used to tell time!"

    No, the piratical application involves ship-sized receptacles, cutlasses, and ropes to fetch fuel.

  13. And for the alarm... by wowbagger · · Score: 3, Funny

    And for the alarm, the clock says

    "help me! help me! help me!"

    --
    www.eFax.com are spammers
  14. In summary by xcut · · Score: 5, Funny

    "It recharges on the fly"