A girl described as a 17-year-old weakling has beaten three robotic arms powered with plastic muscles in the first arm-wrestling competition of its kind, The Los Angeles Times reported on Tuesday.
”I was hoping we could have a win, but that didn’t happen,” said Yoseph Bar-Cohen, an expert on responsive plastics with the United States space agency who organised the challenge. ”We need to do a little more homework.”
The man vs machine showdown occurred at a symposium of the International Society for Optical Engineers held at a San Diego convention centre. Three groups — from Switzerland and the US states of New Mexico and Virginia — rose to Bar-Cohen’s challenge to build an artificial arm that could match a human one.
But even though the robots failed, Bar-Cohen was optimistic, saying that he thought it would take 20 years to develop such mechanics when he first had the idea six years ago.
”It’s incredible how far we’ve come,” he said. ”A human being could run faster than the first car. Try that now.” – Sapa-DPA