Six years ago Yoseph Bar-Cohen, physicist at NASA, challenged other researchers to build a robotic arm using artificial muscles that could wrestle a human. The results of that challenge will be determined next week, when three robotic arms will compete against a high school student. The ultimate goal is to win against the strongest human on Earth.

If the robotic arm wins, it will open doors for many applications in medicine, military defense and entertainment.

The three artificial arms and their teams come from around the world. New Mexico and Switzerland built arms made of plastics and polymers. Virginia will present an arm made of gel fibers and electrochemical cells.

The arm wrestling contest will take place on March 7, during the Electroactive Polymer and Devices conference in San Diego where eight organizations will also demonstrate applications using artificial muscles, including an android head that makes and responds to facial expressions, biologically inspired robotic mechanisms and windows that change colors electronically.

Via Science News.