Armwrestling with a Robot?
ARM WRESTLING HUMAN AGAINST A ROBOT WITH ARTIFICIAL
MUSCLE
The futuristic idea of armwrestling between
a human and a robot with artificial muscles seems to be closer that we think.
This challenge is going to be taken on by researchers and engineers as part of
the annual international conference on Electroactive Polymer Actuators and
Devices (EAPAD) that is part of the SPIE Smart Structures Symposium. The
technology of artificial muscles is still in its emerging stages but the
increased resources, the growing number of investigators conducting research
related to EAP, and the improved collaboration among developers, users, and
sponsors are leading to a rapid progress. In 1999, the Dr. Yoseph
Bar-Cohen, JPL, posed a challenge to the worldwide research and engineering
community to develop a robotic arm that is actuated by artificial muscles to win
an arm wrestling match against a human opponent. Progress towards this
goal will lead to significant benefits, particularly in the medical area,
including effective prosthetics. Decades from now, EAP may be used to
replace damaged human muscles, potentially leading to a "bionic
human." A remarkable contribution of the EAP field would be to one
day see a handicapped person jogging to the grocery store using this technology.
United States ArmSports is
committed to work with Dr. Yoseph Bar-Cohen in this endeavor using our resources
of over 40 years in the sport of armwrestling. We will actually set up a
contest between one or more of our champions and the Robot. Announcements
will be made as we progress to the event.
