The Electroactive Polymer and Devices conference in San Diego on March 7th will play host to a number of projects that could literally change the way we live and abuse robots. On display will be artificial muscles and robotic mechanisms inspired by human organs, windows that change colors, an android head that can imitate human expressions and respond to them, and many other bits of the future we haven’t even dreamed of. None of this matters though, because there will also be robot arm wrestling.
Six years ago NASA physicist Yoseph Bar-Cohen challenged his colleagues to make a robotic arm using artificial muscles that could beat a human. That challenge will see fruition at EPD this year when three units face off against a high school student. The winning arm will then be attached to the Deep Blue chess computer, forging an unstoppable, nerdy killing machine.
