Ecobot

The Bristol BioEnergy centre has been focussing on self-sustainable (and ultimately even biodegradable robots, and its EcoBot III takes care to drop its excrement only in its own robot's litter box.

There is still a long way to go: only 1 per cent of the food energy gets extracted. Plus the name 'diarrhea-bot' would be more appropriate, according to Chris Melhuish, the lab director.

For a self sustaining robot that no longer depends on humans to feed it energy, it still doesn't look like it is very independent.

A small step for robots, a big step for robotkind.