Robots Imitate Humans; Eat, Convert Energy and Poop

Robots have come a long way, baby. Who would have thought we would have seen robots that can mimic humans with the ability to eat, convert food into electricity and eliminate their own waste? It all began in 1911 when a professor of botany, managed to generate electricity from E. coli. Today we know that electricity can be produced directly from decaying organic matter within the microbial fuel cell. Several companies have emerged to commercialize microbial fuel cells but the most advanced is the creation of EcoBot III.

EcoBot, short for Ecological Robot can remain self-sustaining for 7 days without human intervention, by collecting energy from waste materials. EcoBot III is powered by 48 small microbial fuel cells that are able to turn liquid food, including urine and sewage into hydrogen and electricity. Within 24 hours the recycled food is then pushed through its peristaltic pump into the robots’ litter tray.

What else can these robots do? They can jump, roll around and fly but the most amazing aspect is their capability to plug themselves into the natural world of living organisms. These robots eat biological fuels but luckily they haven’t acquired the culinary preferences of humans, yet.

The first EcoBot was created in 2002 and was able to generate electric from E. coli bacteria by feeding on refined sugar. Then came EcoBot II, which harnessed sludge microbes to break down dead flies and rotting apples. Now the EcoBot III shows us how a digesting robot can mimic humans in another way; by excreting waste material to protect its microbes from being poisoned by their own waste.

The next generation of robots may be able to utilize sewage and waste without any human intervention at all. At least this would the direction of new robotic inventions. Imagine, having robots that are self-sustaining and keep going forever on rotting plant material, insects or human waste. As long as the microbes keep growing the robots will keep going.

There is also hope that robots utilizing waste materials can accompany astronauts on long-distance space missions. These types of robots could survive for years on their own in outer space.

Another innovation in the science of building ‘humanoid’ robots is that robots can now mimic the facial expressions and lip movements of human beings. ‘Jules’ the robot head can pick movements from a video camera, which are mapped on the tiny electronic motors in his skin. Jules may be the first androgynous robotic head to grimace or grin but he will certainly not be the last. He is just another robot devised from the Bristol Robotics Laboratory at the University of the West of England and the University of Bristol. Jules mimics the mirrored commands at a rate of 25 frames per second with his flexible rubber skin. He was ‘taught’ ten stock human emotions such as happiness, sadness and concern; emotions that look natural and human.

Facial expressions are important when creating robotic companions who might accompany astronauts in space or even caring for the elderly here on earth. Researchers predict that one-day robots will assist humans not only in space but also with caring and educating as well. For that to happen it may be important for robots to attain a certain degree of emotional intelligence.

But utilizing such human like robots may fool humans. Children and the elderly could find them so lifelike they might feel they could have a social relationship with them. After all, a robot that can eat, walk, talk and show emotion is almost human. With such similarities to humans, we might forget for a moment that they are robotic. As scientists all over the world create biologically inspired robots the focus is on artificial intelligence. Can we create androids that have a similar thinking process as humans? For that to happen a robot would have to be able to adjust its own programming if there was a problem with the coding. Robots that are behavior-based could be made aware of unexpected changes of their environment. They could become flexible and adept to new situations. This would be accomplished by incorporating fuzzy logic into their engineering. Robots that can respond to visual and audible signals in a humanistic way are the wave of future. It will be necessary for robots to make decisions like humans would make, such as turning on the air condition when the room is too hot.

Robots are not human but the closer technology gets to mimicking human techniques, the easier it will become to communicate the uses we have for them. If man chooses to employ robots to assist humans they need to be flexible, independent and efficient. One day, maybe robot technology will become so humanistic that a robot’s responses will become the same as humans, except without the personality flaws.