A new robot called EATR or the Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot is being developed by RTI and being funded DARPA.

The goal of this project is to create a robot for long range missions without the need for conventional refueling. The robot will be able to get ‘food’ on it’s own. RTI states the robot will be able to:

Identify suitable biomass sources of energy and distinguish those sources from unsuitable materials (e.g., wood, grass, or paper from rocks, metal, or glass)

Spatially locate and manipulate the sources of energy (e.g., cut or shred to size, grasp, lift, and ingest); and

Convert the biomass to sufficient electrical energy to power power the EATR subsystems .

