Dr Jonathan Rossiter, a senior lecturer at the University of Bristol's Department of Engineering and Mathematics, has snagged a two-year research grant of over £200,000 to develop robots that decompose once their mission if complete. This means instead of our automaton friends rusting away, devoid of purpose, they could return gracefully (and more importantly non-toxically) back to mother earth. Not only would this be a boon to the environment, but scientists would no longer need to track and retrieve their mechanical progeny once it reached the end of its usable life, further sparing resources and allowing mass deployment. At least we know, when the day comes, the planet won't be harmed.

Environmentally friendly robots will feed the flowers they trample originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 May 2012 09:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.