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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."

45 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
  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 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
  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 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
    5. 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).

    6. 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
  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. 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
  19. This girl by bonch · · Score: 4, Funny

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

  20. 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.
  21. 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
  22. 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.

  23. 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.

  24. Armwrestling: national sport of slashdot... by elgatozorbas · · Score: 3, Funny

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

  25. 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.

  26. 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.
  27. Re:I for one by TheoMurpse · · Score: 5, Funny

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

  28. 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
  29. 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.

  30. 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.
  31. 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