Artificial Muscles Get a Grip on Human
Hand
February 28, 2005
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. He didn't expect to see the challenge fulfilled
for at least a couple of decades. "Given the technology
we had in 1999, I thought it would take at least 20
years before we could do it," said Bar-Cohen, who has
been called the "Artificial Muscle Man."
But he was wrong, and next week's event is a big step
forward in the development and testing of these
technologies. 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.
The three artificial arms and their teams come from
around the world. 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 arm wrestling
competition is March 7, from 5:00 to 6:00 pm in the Town
& Country room at the convention center. The
conference and competition are part of the Smart
Structures and Materials symposium sponsored by the
International Society for Optical Engineering.
Panna Felsen, a senior at La Costa Canyon High School
in San Diego who has participated in student robotics
competitions, will try to make the robotic arms buckle
during the contest. "I'm really excited to be the human
opponent, but I have no plans of making it easy for the
arms to win against me," Felsen said. "The match will be
a fair test of strength."
After the competition, eight organizations will
demonstrate other 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.
Electroactive polymers are simple, lightweight strips
of highly flexible plastic that bend or stretch when put
into contact with chemicals or electricity. They are
quiet and shatterproof and can be used to imitate human
muscle movements.
A small team of scientists at JPL, in cooperation
with research centers worldwide, are working to turn
these plastic strips into grippers and strings that can
grab and lift loads. JPL engineers are also hoping to
build a rover with legs fitted with artificial muscles.
The robot would be able to walk instead of rolling on
wheels on planetary surfaces. "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. During the conference, he will receive the
2005 Smart Materials and Structures Lifetime Achievement
Award.
For more information about the competition on the
Internet, visit: http://ndeaa.jpl.nasa.gov/nasa-nde/lommas/eap/EAP-armwrestling.htm
.
For more information about the conference on the
Internet, visit: http://spie.org/Conferences/Programs/05/ss/conferences/index.cfm?fuseaction=5759
For more information on Electroactive Polymers on the
Internet, visit: http://eap.jpl.nasa.gov/
Natalie Godwin (818) 354-0850
Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
2005-035