As crazy as it sounds, no, it’s not fake: it’s very real.

One such example was a prototype robot funded by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), a subsidiary to the Department of Defense (DoD), that ran from 2003 to 2009.

The robot was called EATR, which stood for “Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot.” According to a short abstract of the device, per The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) website, the robot could do the following:

The purpose of the proposed project is to develop and demonstrate an autonomous robotic platform able to perform long-range, long-endurance missions. The system, known as the Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot (EATR) ™, obtains its energy by foraging – engaging in biologically-inspired, organism-like, energy-harvesting behavior which is the equivalent of eating.

It can find, ingest, and extract energy from biomass in the environment (and other organically-based energy sources), as well as use conventional and alternative fuels (such as gasoline, heavy fuel, kerosene, diesel, propane, coal, cooking oil, and solar) when suitable.

The EATR system consists of four main subsystems: (1) an autonomous intelligent control system and sensors; (2) a manipulator system consisting of a robotic arm and end effectors; (3) a hybrid engine system consisting of a biomass combustion chamber, a Stirling (i.e., external combustion) engine, and a multi-cell rechargeable battery; and (4) a platform system consisting of a robotically-modified High Mobility Multi-Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV).

The proof-of-concept demonstration will focus on the ability of the EATR to recognize biomass sources of energy from non-energy materials, properly manipulate and ingest the biomass materials into the engine system, and generate electrical power to operate the various subsystems….