The Fly-Powered Robot

British scientists have developed a robot that could simultaneously take honors as the year's most clever and most gross innovation. The EcoBot II powers itself solely by eating housefiles to generate electricity. The robot uses human excrement to attract files, which it then captures and digests. Mmmm, tasty!

The EcoBot is designed to operate over prolonger periods in harsh environments, where humans would not be available to replace or recharge batteries. It could also function in areas where solar panels would not be effective. Robots like the EcoBot could serve as surveyors for military, security, industrial and environmental applications.

Source: CNN.com