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Arm Wrestling Robots Beaten By A Teenage Girl

Posted by timothy on from the where-can-I-have-this-done-to-me dept.

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."

64 of 300 comments (clear)

  1. Beaten by a young girl by MacGod · · Score: 5, Funny

    A 17-year-old girl has bested three robot arm wrestlers

    Been there. Welcome to the club, robots

    --
    "Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one " -Albert Einstein
    1. Re:Beaten by a young girl by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      The sad thing is that you can be sure no untested robots were submitted. That would mean those robots can beat up all the engineers that worked on then :)

      How sad...

  2. The worst part by Dark+Paladin · · Score: 5, Funny

    Isn't that they lost to a girl, but how all the other robots teased them afterwards.

    --
    52 Weeks, 52 Religions with John Hummel
  3. Three? by Cantide · · Score: 5, Funny

    What, you mean all at once?

  4. So what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    It took 40 years to get one to walk on two feet. Next up, "Vomiting robot beaten by 6 month old baby."

  5. Welcome by Boronx · · Score: 5, Funny

    I, for one, welcome our 17 year old female overlords.

    --
    Play Command HQ online
    1. Re:Welcome by Lord+Kano · · Score: 5, Funny

      I, for one, welcome our 17 year old female overlords.

      In one year, so will I.

      LK

      --
      "Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
    2. Re:Welcome by FuturePastNow · · Score: 3, Funny

      Not if you're posting on Slashdot, you won't.

      --
      Give a man fire, and you warm him for the night. Set a man on fire, and you warm him for the rest of his life.
    3. Re:Welcome by Altima(BoB) · · Score: 2, Funny

      If you check your local age of consent laws, you probably won't have to wait.


      You lecher.

      --
      Yup...
    4. Re:Welcome by myowntrueself · · Score: 4, Funny

      "I, for one, welcome our 17 year old female overlords."

      Over*ladies* you insensitive clod!

      --
      In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
  6. Which is less mature... by PornMaster · · Score: 3, Funny

    the technology or her peers?

    --
    500GB of disk, 5TB of transfer, $5.95/mo
  7. great by kloidster · · Score: 5, Funny

    Nice to see our tax dollars being used to beat a 17 year-old. Wait, who won that again?

  8. not the whole story.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    the fight was over a credit card

  9. Photo in article by alex_guy_CA · · Score: 5, Funny

    A photo of the robot is cool, but I really wanted to see a photo of the girl!

    --
    San Francisco Photographers
    1. Re:Photo in article by Defender2000 · · Score: 5, Informative

      Ask and ye shall receive:
      Here

      --
      ...I'll procrastinate tomorrow...
    2. Re:Photo in article by kin_korn_karn · · Score: 4, Funny

      Hillary Swank? That's cheating. She's still all buff from that boxing movie

    3. Re:Photo in article by fr2asbury · · Score: 3, Funny

      Oh sure . . . she looks all "sugar and spice" but it's that "chemical X" that wasn't disclosed before the contest.

  10. Motivation... by DumbSwede · · Score: 4, Funny

    This is exactly the kind of thing that leads to the motivation for robots to build hoards of rampaging kill-bots.

    --
    Letter To Iran
  11. Pictures of the girl? by BlueEar · · Score: 5, Funny

    Did she look something like this?

    --
    A religious war is an adult version of a fight over who has the best imaginary friend
    1. Re:Pictures of the girl? by bleckywelcky · · Score: 2, Funny

      UHHHH... Is that a man? A woman? Huh? I also found this picture:

      http://www.tazzie-colomb.com/gallery/Tazzie4001.jp g

      I'm scared, someone hold me please.

  12. Here's more about the girl by ortholattice · · Score: 5, Informative

    Panna Felson

    1. Re:Here's more about the girl by TekMonkey · · Score: 3, Funny

      Wow. That girl is every geek's dream. Advanced calculus...grr!

    2. Re:Here's more about the girl by Stephen+Samuel · · Score: 5, Insightful
      Nice face, but you cant see her, uhm, arms.
      Seriously though:
      What was once training ground during her eight-year competitive swimming regimen ....
      (bio)

      I doubt that she's as much of a wimp as she professes to be.

      --
      Free Software: Like love, it grows best when given away.
    3. Re:Here's more about the girl by bigmike_f · · Score: 5, Funny

      I feel for all the nerds in her classes. I think girls in engineering is awesome... but they should have to take ugly pills. I still hate that one super hot girl in my CS classes. I know I could have gotten an A if I could stop looking at her.

    4. Re:Here's more about the girl by thunderbee · · Score: 2, Funny

      If you can't concentrate, you don't deserve an A ;-p

      --
      In my opinion, Scientology is a cult you should avoid.
    5. Re:Here's more about the girl by op12 · · Score: 4, Funny
      If you can't concentrate, you don't deserve an A ;-p
      And if you can concentrate, you don't deserve a hot girl ;-P
    6. Re:Here's more about the girl by kloidster · · Score: 4, Funny

      I actually feel for her being in a room full of geeks (and now perhaps all of /.) having fantasies of her every time she's within a 10 foot radius (or perhaps when her pic is downloaded off the internet).

    7. Re:Here's more about the girl by Kris_J · · Score: 3, Funny
      "Female engineers become irresistible at the age of consent and remain that way until about thirty minutes after their clinical death. Longer if it's a warm day." -- Scott Adams, The Dilbert Principle
    8. Re:Here's more about the girl by clean_stoner · · Score: 2, Funny

      Damn, I was just thinking that I wish I had more hot chicks in my classes. It's pretty bad when you know the number of girls in your classes.

      --

      Sigs are for the weak.

  13. Brief bio. & mughsot of Panna Felsen... by antdude · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Click here. She's not bad looking. ;)

    --
    Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
  14. Re:NPR Also Covered It by JVert · · Score: 3, Funny

    Bar-Cohen says he hopes the technology improves so that robotic arms can eventually compete against -- and beat -- world-champion arm wrestlers. The artificial muscles could lead to prosthetics and other devices, he says. But for now they will just be useless toys that are completly not newsworthy unless you make some sort of stupid contest thats not really a contest at all.

    God I hope /. repost's this one. This is the most exciting thing all week! This contracting material has been around for about 12 years now and has finally matured enough to lose to a girl in an arm wrestling match.

  15. Other Stats by anonicon · · Score: 4, Informative

    Since the jokes are going to be flying fast and furious over this, I thought I'd ask if anyone has links to other information about this cool research. Googling on polymer muscles brought up this page, but I didn't see anything about their ability to carry semi-fluid weight loads like groceries, tools, etc.

    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?

    1. Re:Other Stats by Jherek+Carnelian · · Score: 3, Interesting

      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.

  16. Next on the list of things to do... by 3l1za · · Score: 4, Funny

    That robot is gonna need a beer.

  17. The Robots should aim lower by michaeldot · · Score: 5, Funny

    To win, the robots may need to choose weaker enemies.

    Perhaps they should take a cue from the RIAA and take on 12-year girls.

  18. Oh, and while we're being snide by Cantide · · Score: 2, Funny

    "The three robot teams are now trying to work out what went wrong."


    "You think this plug is important, Lou?"
    "Nah."

  19. robots vs. slashdot by _randy_64 · · Score: 2, Funny

    So the robots must have about the same physique and musculature of the average slashdot reader?

    --
    I mod down all the "free iPod"-sig losers.
    1. Re:robots vs. slashdot by kusanagi374 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Not really... just a little bit more. I believe the geeks behind those robots decided they were good to go because all three robots were able to beat the "strongest" of 'em.

      You do know how strong the average geek is, right? Lifting nano circuits sure is hard work!

  20. This proves it further... by powerlinekid · · Score: 4, Funny

    Never arm wrestle a girl.

    If you win, you get made fun of for beating a girl.
    If you lose, you get made fun of for losing to a girl.

    In this case, you get:
    But at the time he thought it would take decades before the technology was ready to match humans. This first contest suggests he may have been right.

    Thats almost as bad.

    --

    can't sleep slashdot will eat me
  21. From the article by RaguMS · · Score: 2, Insightful

    "Panna, a self-confessed wimp, was chosen to represent humanity."

    Wonderful. It doesn't sound like they expected it to be much of a contest. They should make the robot arms fight each other first until they get good enough to beat a self-confessed wimp. Then, maybe they won't be wasting everyone's time.

  22. This girl by bonch · · Score: 4, Funny

    This girl could probably beat all of us up. Fear her.

  23. You were warned... by kickabear · · Score: 5, Funny

    Skynet officials were quoted as saying, "yeah, but she's no Sarah Conner."

    --
    This space for rent.
  24. Setback for BattleMechs by ackthpt · · Score: 5, Funny
    A 17-year-old girl has bested three robot arm wrestlers

    Been there. Welcome to the club, robots

    Doesn't bode well for BattleMechs, either.

    and they seemed so fierce in those novels!

    --

    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
  25. Next time use high pressure hydraulics by melted · · Score: 4, Funny

    Next time use high pressure hydraulics, and crush this teenage girl's arm. That'll teach her.

    1. Re:Next time use high pressure hydraulics by viking_kiwi · · Score: 2, Interesting

      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".

  26. Researchers Baffled by Slayback · · Score: 2, Funny

    The researchers were baffled at this result. "They always beat us in the lab, so I don't understand how this could happen!"

  27. Intel StrongARM by Devil's+BSD · · Score: 2, Funny

    Obviously, the polymer muscles were not controlled with Intel's StrongARM processors. Hook an iPaq up, and THEN rematch!

    --
    I'm the Devil the Windows users warned you about.
    1. Re:Intel StrongARM by GrAfFiT · · Score: 2, Informative

      In fact, StrongARM is dead, now it's PXA/XScale.

  28. What does this say about the scientist? by MindStalker · · Score: 4, Funny

    The scientist were apparently "suprised" at how easily their machines were beat. I'm sure they tested these machines before bringing them to this contest. What this basically means is that the scientist involved are bigger whimps than this girl.

  29. Just goes to show by Junior+J.+Junior+III · · Score: 2, Funny

    Even with mechanical advantages, geeks are still wimps.

    --
    You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
  30. Armwrestling: national sport of slashdot... by elgatozorbas · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...putting the only well developed muscle to a good use.

  31. Be still my beating heart! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Holy Gods! She's gorgeous, bright, and can protect me from killer robots!

    1. Re:Be still my beating heart! by TheGuano · · Score: 3, Funny

      Now there's an anime job description if I've ever seen one.

  32. Re:robot girls... by RsG · · Score: 3, Funny

    More importantly, where can I get these robot girls? And will they run linux?

    (just kidding - we all know that there's no such thing as a girl :-) )

    --
    Erotic is when you use a feather. Exotic is when you use the whole chicken.
  33. I for one by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 2, Funny

    Welcome our wimpy, weak Robot Overlords.

    --
    It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
    1. Re:I for one by TheoMurpse · · Score: 5, Funny

      really really really welcome the coming of our 17 year old female overlords

  34. KISS? by rbarreira · · Score: 2, Informative
    According to her bio:

    In her junior year, she founded an engineering club at her school for which her robotics knowledge helped the team win KISS

    A hot geek helping a bunch of geeks getting a KISS, with her robotics knowledge? My brain is hurting already...
    --

    The AACS key is NOT 0xF606EEFD628B1CA427BEA93A9CA9773F
  35. A Foregone Conclusion by Monthenor · · Score: 3, Funny

    Yoshimi couldn't let those robots eat me. It'd be tragic if those evil robots win.

    --
    Co-founder of GerbilMechs
  36. Re:robot girls... by andy_shepard · · Score: 4, Funny

    whatever happened to named?

    If you need DNS to resolve her name, she's probably a robot.

  37. I was a PhD researcher in this field by maddu · · Score: 2, Interesting

    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.

  38. Sounds Like Anime by romper · · Score: 4, Funny

    17-year-old girl, probably in a sailor suit, beating up robots. Yeah, I think I saw this one.

    --
    Right is wrong when left is right.
  39. hum by c0p0n · · Score: 2, Funny

    What's a girl?

    --

    Your head a splode
  40. There is a song by The Flaming Lips about that! by adolfojp · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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
    they're programmed to destroy us
    she's gotta be strong to fight them
    so she's taking lots of vitamins

    Cheers,
    Adolfo
  41. Now we know ... by Evil+Pete · · Score: 2, Funny

    ... why the terminator was so pissed off with Sarah Connor. Not a 900 lb weakling anymore lady.

    --
    Bitter and proud of it.