Dan's post suggests to me that cultural cognition might influence how reassuring individuals find a recent press release by Robotic Technology, Inc., setting the record straight. While the company's Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot ("EATR" for short), "can find, ingest, and extract energy from biomass in the environment (and other organically-based energy sources)," RTI wants you to know that, "[d]espite the far-reaching reports that this includes “human bodies,” the public can be assured that the engine Cyclone (Cyclone Power Technologies Inc.) has developed to power the EATR runs on fuel no scarier than twigs, grass clippings and wood chips -- small, plant-based items for which RTI’s robotic technology is designed to forage. Desecration of the dead is a war crime under Article 15 of the Geneva Conventions, and is certainly not something sanctioned by DARPA, Cyclone or RTI."
(Thanks to Sarah Lawsky for the link.)