Six years ago a scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., issued a unique challenge: build a robotic arm using artificial muscles that could arm wrestle a human.
The results of that challenge will be determined next week, when three such robotic arms will "step into the ring" to compete against a 17- year-old high school student.
The ultimate goal is to win against the strongest human on Earth.
When he issued the challenge, Dr. Yoseph Bar-Cohen, a physicist at JPL, wanted to jump-start research in electroactive polymers, also known as artificial muscles.
If the robotic arm wins, it will open doors for many engineering technologies in medicine, military defense and even entertainment.
"You have to ask whether science fiction drives reality, or reality drives science fiction," Bar-Cohen said.
Researchers from New Mexico and Switzerland built arms made of plastics and polymers.
A group of students from Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, Virginia will also test their arm invention made of gel fibers and electrochemical cells.
The arm wrestling contest is one of the highlights at the Electroactive Polymer and Devices conference to be held March 7-10, at the Town and Country Resort & Convention Center in San Diego.
The conference and competition are part of the Smart Structures and Materials symposium sponsored by the International Society for Optical Engineering (SPIE).
Electroactive polymers are simple, lightweight strips of highly flexible plastic that bend or stretch when put into contact with chemicals or electricity.
"My hope is to see a rover run like a horse on Mars and climb steep mountains like a monkey, allowing us to reach distances and heights that are not possible with wheeled rovers," said Bar-Cohen who has chaired the conference for the past six years.