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Arm Wrestling Robots Beaten By A Teenage Girl
fembots writes "Despite her lack of strength, training and technique, a 17-year-old girl has bested three robot arm wrestlers in a contest attempted to encourage the development of polymer-based artificial muscles, which can change shape when activated either electrically or with chemicals."
One nice side note (hopefully) - since it's government funded through NASA, does this mean this work won't be patented and re-sold in the market for an even higher price than it will already cost?
Don't count on it - NASA "technology transfer" usually means paying a contractor to develop something and then letting the contractor keep all the rights to the work funded by taxpayers.
We actually benefitted from this once upon a time. I'm fuzzy on the details but I believe Russ Nelson developed some of the early ethernet drivers for linux as a NASA contractor and was able to release them under the GPL precisely because he had been able to maintain ownership of the copyright on them. I've heard similar stories about a lot of the original beowulf work, except in them, NASA management(?) was actively looking to give the work to a close-sourced shop but were thwarted by the legitimate GPLing of said work.
Of course that's all rumour and conjecture, but of course this is slashdot too.
I was studying towards my doctorate in this specific field for two years. This particular challenge was touted for a long time and was supposed to be the holy grail that would establish for ever the authenticity of conductive polymers and this field. Too bad it hasn't turned out this way.
There was never enough "science" in this field. Too much sci-fi and reliance on empirical data rather than precise modeling and ability to predict force! Why, even a basic equation like F=Ma needed to be applied in twisted and convoluted way for such materials.
As a mechanical engineer, I never thought this was going anywhere. After working on this field for two years, I finally left school and got a MS as a consolation. Now I work in the finance industry.
Her name is Yoshimi
she's a black belt in karate
working for the city
she has to discipline her body
'Cause she knows that
it's demanding
to defeat those evil machines
I know she can beat them
Oh Yoshimi, they don't believe me
but you won't let those robots eat me
Yoshimi, they don't believe me
but you won't let those robots defeat me
Those evil-natured robots
Cheers,they're programmed to destroy us
she's gotta be strong to fight them
so she's taking lots of vitamins
Adolfo
Were we the only ones to have this initial picture of an arm wrestling robot being some hulking great mechanical monstrosity, with hydraulic cylinders and actuators, heavy drive shafts and such, sort of thing that would be built on "Scrap Heap Challenge".