Robo-Squirtgun Declares War on Raccoons

The subjugation of man just isn't enough for robotkind; now they turn their attention to another squishy organic with opposable thumbs, the raccoon.

Yes, we know raccoons are the bane of every suburban dweller and his trashcan. But seriously, isn't siccing be-weaponed robots on the little masked bandits just a bit of an overkill? Apparently not, because one clever DIY-er decided it's time for machine to wage war on something other than man, and that something is raccoon.

At first glance, the so-called Squirt robot reminds us of another all-terrain mechanoid menace with a gun turret. The difference is, the inventor of this Arduino-and-Android-powered mobile weapons platform apparently decided that bullets were a bit of an overkill when it came to oversized rodents, so he opted for a flowery water gun instead.

Don't let the cutesy weapon fool you, though. Remember, cuteness is the machine's best weapon against us. Besides, it would take just a little bit of engineering and biochemistry to replace water with "face-melting liquid designed to process organics for energy consumption."

Now keep that in mind while you take into account that the Squirt has a sentry feature that lets it blast a stream of its liquid contents at any organic that doesn't comply within twenty seconds. Does it still sound cute to you?

[source: Cellbots via Engadget]