Six years ago, Jet Propulsion Laboratory researcher Yoseph Bar-Cohen challenged scientists to create an artificial arm that could beat a human in an arm-wrestling match.
The catch: The arm must be made of a pliable plastic material controlled by electrical impulses.
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Even if they had worked, the devices wouldn't have been ready for arm-wrestling competitions on ESPN: One relied on a potentially dangerous hydrochloric acid reaction, while another was powered by a strong electric current.
It could mean the transformation of robots from large, clunky, motor-driven devices -- think of the robot arm that helped put together your car -- into sleek, sturdy, self-contained machines.
"There could be some point where you can have a robot dog, not walking like a machine, but walking like a dog," said Bar-Cohen, a tireless advocate for the technology.
Bar-Cohen and others expect that the artificial muscles will revolutionize prosthetics, allowing disabled people to more easily move their limbs.
For now, though, Ben-Cohen's dream muscles -- all made from plastics known as electroactive polymers -- are fairly primitive.
Panna Felsen, a San Diego-area high-school student, took 24 seconds to push down the arm, which was controlled through power leads connected to two artificial muscles.
The final team, engineering students from Virginia Tech, used fishing lines to connect a fiberglass arm to several tubes holding gel fibers.
Richard Landon, who helped create the special effects for AI and the Jurassic Park movies, said technological advances could revolutionize his industry, allowing fake human characters -- or, say, velociraptors -- to free themselves from motors and look more natural.