Most people over forty are familiar with a creepy movie that came out in 1968 called 2001: A Space Odyssey, about how a very intelligent robot decides to stop taking instructions from humans and basically takes over the world.

Variations of this scenario—robots taking over—are a fairly common fear for some people. If you’re one of those people, I’m sorry to say, the future may have just arrived.

I just heard about a new invention by James Auger and Jimmy Loizeau that powers a clock with flies. In other words, a robot uses organic matter (the fly) as an energy source. I don’t think I can show a picture of it without their permission, but you can see a picture of it here. Here’s how it works.

There’s a strip of sticky flypaper on rollers. When a fly gets stuck on the paper, it moves down and passes over a blade, which scrapes the fly off. The fly falls into the microbial fuel cell, and this generates the electricity to turn a small motor that powers the rollers and the clock.

If you are a paranoid sort, you might wonder if it is too much of a stretch to think that robots might develop a taste for organic matter as an energy source. Why stop at flies, you might ask? Will your pet cat be next? Or you?