The aim of this project is to build a robot with animal-like self-sufficiency in both information and energy. We dont expect to be able to match the speed and performance of a cheetah chasing a zebra, within the time frame of this project, so we decided to chase something slightly slower ... slugs. Apart from their relative ease of capture (compared to zebras), slugs were chosen because they are a major pest, are reasonably plentiful, have no hard shell or skeleton, and are reasonably large. It is also more technologically interesting to catch mobile prey rather than just grazing on plants. Of course, the organic resources, or food (i.e. slugs), will have to be converted to a form of energy that is useful to a robotic system. We propose to convert the organic material to electricity using microbial fuel cells. Agricultural fields of winter wheat offer a suitable test bed for the robots because slugs (Deroceras reticulatum, Arion ater ater and Arion ater rufus) are plentiful, with up to 200 per square metre. Slugs are mainly active at night, especially just after sunset and just before sunrise, so the robots will have to be active at these times, and resting in order to conserve energy during the day when most slugs are underground. Since energy conservation will be of prime importance, and moving heavy items over soft ground will consume large amounts of energy, the fermentation vessel, engine and generator will be stationary. One or more robots will deliver slugs to the stationary charging system and obtain power from it. In order to minimise the amount of movement each of the robots will be equipped with a 1.5m long arm, mounted on a turntable, which will be used both for detecting and collecting slugs which is now working under closed loop computer control...http://www.ias.uwe.ac.uk/goto.html?slugbot
