Designers Create Meat Eating Furniture

Sonny Yatsen writes "NPR's Robert Krulwich explores the work of several designers who are working on carnivorous furniture. These creations, include a clock that feeds on dead flies, and a table that lures mice into a guillotined death. 'We want robots to be able to get their own energy from the environment,' says co-designer Prof. Melhuish. Let's hope they come up with a lounge chair that eats cockroaches sometime soon."

Comments

I think I'll pass......

[NiteShaed]

Dad: "Honey, where are the kids?"
Mom: "They're playing by the couch"
Couch: "Burp"

Excrement

[arisvega]

Does the furniture also crap?

Insectivorous furniture

[RNLockwood]

"Hey, see my new high tech chair? It gets its energy from eating cockroaches. (Wonder what it does with the energy?) Hmm, in order to stay alive it will need a continual supply of cockroaches so I'll need to make sure that my dwelling stays infested; but if it gets them all perhaps I can buy crickets at the pet store. This should bump up my value as a prospective mate a lot and help to get me laid. At the very least it will be great to sit in and watch Fox News."

Re:Lounge chair that eats cockroaches sometime soo

[FrozenFOXX]

What about a bed that eats bed bugs?

Already "invented", it's called washing your goddamn sheets / replacing your 20 year old mattress / NOT making your bed right after getting up

Dunno about that last one but I strongly doubt you have any experience with bed bugs if you think the prior two have anything to do with them. You seriously cannot do a single google search for bed bug causes without pulling up several hundred citations but here's a few highlights:

• Dirt does not cause bedbugs.
• Age of mattress does not cause bedbugs
• Dirty clothing does not cause bedbugs
• An astonishing number of things DO NOT CAUSE BEDBUGS

As a corollary, some of the following ARE of interest relating to bed bugs:

• Cluttered houses make them harder to get rid of, but do not cause them
• You cannot leave traps for them as they feed on blood (unless you fill yourself with Clorox I suppose, though you'd have bigger problems)
• They can survive for a good 14 months or so without feeding
• They can survive extreme cold (think freezer) for days without issue
• They can survive extreme heat almost without issue
• Changing sheets/destroying mattresses/other have WORSE effects since you only end up spreading them
• They're small enough to live in your freakin electrical outlets, computer case, under your desk at work
• The only way to kill the bastards is a complex, multi-front, all-out ASSAULT involving quarantine, chemicals, and a shitload of other invasive stuff
• Even after you *think* you've got it contained, they could just be resting for a few months or so (maybe a year, even) to start up all over again. God help you if you made the mistake of having carpet.

Seriously, they're an unholy nightmare, plain and simple, and telling someone, "wash your goddamn sheets," is downright insulting to anyone that's actually had to deal with these bastards.