Arm Wrestling Robots Beaten By A Teenage Girl

fembots writes "Despite her lack of strength, training and technique, a 17-year-old girl has bested three robot arm wrestlers in a contest attempted to encourage the development of polymer-based artificial muscles, which can change shape when activated either electrically or with chemicals."

Beaten by a young girl

[MacGod]

A 17-year-old girl has bested three robot arm wrestlers

Been there. Welcome to the club, robots

Setback for BattleMechs

[ackthpt]

A 17-year-old girl has bested three robot arm wrestlers

Been there. Welcome to the club, robots

Doesn't bode well for BattleMechs, either.

and they seemed so fierce in those novels!

Re:Beaten by a young girl

[bonch]

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/smackdown.html [ebaumsworld.com]

I for one

[Ohreally_factor]

Welcome our wimpy, weak Robot Overlords.

Re:I for one

[sPaKr]

Welcome the coming of our wimpy 17 year old female overloards

Re:I for one

[TheoMurpse]

really really really welcome the coming of our 17 year old female overlords

Re:I for one

[Herkum01]

Didn't you know? They already rule the world, or at least their world, you know 'High school'.

Re:I for one

[StarKruzr]

Sorry to be a nazi nazi, but that would be "spelling nazi," not "grammar nazi."

(And, of course, it would be "cumming," not "cuming," which would be pronounced more like "cooming." Not sure what a cooming girl would be like.)

Re:Beaten by a young girl

[Anonymous Coward]

The sad thing is that you can be sure no untested robots were submitted. That would mean those robots can beat up all the engineers that worked on then :)

How sad...

hum

[c0p0n]

What's a girl?

Now we know ...

[Evil Pete]

... why the terminator was so pissed off with Sarah Connor. Not a 900 lb weakling anymore lady.

The worst part

[Dark Paladin]

Isn't that they lost to a girl, but how all the other robots teased them afterwards.

Three?

[Cantide]

What, you mean all at once?

So what?

[Anonymous Coward]

It took 40 years to get one to walk on two feet. Next up, "Vomiting robot beaten by 6 month old baby."

Welcome

[Boronx]

I, for one, welcome our 17 year old female overlords.

Re:Welcome

[Lord Kano]

I, for one, welcome our 17 year old female overlords.

In one year, so will I.

LK

Re:Welcome

[FuturePastNow]

Not if you're posting on Slashdot, you won't.

Re:Welcome

[Altima(BoB)]

If you check your local age of consent laws, you probably won't have to wait.


You lecher.

Re:Welcome

[myowntrueself]

"I, for one, welcome our 17 year old female overlords."

Over*ladies* you insensitive clod!

Which is less mature...

[PornMaster]

the technology or her peers?

great

[kloidster]

Nice to see our tax dollars being used to beat a 17 year-old. Wait, who won that again?

not the whole story....

[Anonymous Coward]

the fight was over a credit card

Re:not the whole story....

[glenebob]

Which explains why it was settled with an arm wrestle. If you want a real fight, have the robot wear a blowse matching the girl's...

Photo in article

[alex_guy_CA]

A photo of the robot is cool, but I really wanted to see a photo of the girl!

Re:Photo in article

[Defender2000]

Ask and ye shall receive:
Here [nasa.gov]

Re:Photo in article

[kin_korn_karn]

Hillary Swank? That's cheating. She's still all buff from that boxing movie

Be still my beating heart!

[Anonymous Coward]

Holy Gods! She's gorgeous, bright, and can protect me from killer robots!

Re:Be still my beating heart!

[TheGuano]

Now there's an anime job description if I've ever seen one.

Re:Photo in article

[Jardine]

Ask and ye shall receive:
Here [nasa.gov]

I'd hit it.

Wait a minute, this isn't Fark. Plus she looks like she may have sharp knees.

Re:Photo in article

[fr2asbury]

Oh sure . . . she looks all "sugar and spice" but it's that "chemical X" that wasn't disclosed before the contest.

Re:Photo in article

[Ohreally_factor]

But who did they get to represent humankind in the Robot Bukakke Competition?

Motivation...

[DumbSwede]

This is exactly the kind of thing that leads to the motivation for robots to build hoards of rampaging kill-bots.

Re:Motivation...

[Ford Prefect]

This is exactly the kind of thing that leads to the motivation for robots to build hoards of rampaging kill-bots.

That, and biscuits [bbc.co.uk]!

Pictures of the girl?

[BlueEar]

Did she look something like this [tazzie-colomb.com]?

Re:Pictures of the girl?

[bleckywelcky]

UHHHH... Is that a man? A woman? Huh? I also found this picture:

http://www.tazzie-colomb.com/gallery/Tazzie4001.jp g [tazzie-colomb.com]

I'm scared, someone hold me please.

Here's more about the girl

[ortholattice]

Panna Felson [nasa.gov]

Re:Here's more about the girl

[TekMonkey]

Wow. That girl is every geek's dream. Advanced calculus...grr!

Re:Here's more about the girl

[Stephen Samuel]

Nice face, but you cant see her, uhm, arms.
Seriously though:

What was once training ground during her eight-year competitive swimming regimen ....
(bio [nasa.gov])

I doubt that she's as much of a wimp as she professes to be.

Hot arm-on-arm action here!

[commodoresloat]

Linkie [npr.org].

Re:Here's more about the girl

[Jjeff1]

I don't get it. THe head has been photo-chopped into the picture.

Re:Here's more about the girl

[bigmike_f]

I feel for all the nerds in her classes. I think girls in engineering is awesome... but they should have to take ugly pills. I still hate that one super hot girl in my CS classes. I know I could have gotten an A if I could stop looking at her.

Re:Here's more about the girl

[thunderbee]

If you can't concentrate, you don't deserve an A ;-p

Re:Here's more about the girl

[op12]

If you can't concentrate, you don't deserve an A ;-p

And if you can concentrate, you don't deserve a hot girl ;-P

Re:Here's more about the girl

[kloidster]

I actually feel for her being in a room full of geeks (and now perhaps all of /.) having fantasies of her every time she's within a 10 foot radius (or perhaps when her pic is downloaded off the internet).

Re:Here's more about the girl

[Drakonian]

Is this the next Ellen Feiss?

Today is International Women's Day!

[sam_handelman]

So, in the spirit of female liberation everywhere, let me be the first to say - that little girl is seriously hot. Yowza.

Re:Here's more about the girl

[Kris_J]

"Female engineers become irresistible at the age of consent and remain that way until about thirty minutes after their clinical death. Longer if it's a warm day." -- Scott Adams, The Dilbert Principle

Re:Here's more about the girl

[ajna]

Me, too. I'm interested in what the referenced "extreme sand castles" might be.

Brief bio. & mughsot of Panna Felsen...

[antdude]

Click here [nasa.gov]. She's not bad looking. ;)

Re:Brief bio. & mughsot of Panna Felsen...

[screwballicus]

I knew it. Without a 'breasts' option in the poll this time, Slashdotters are going to be seeking alternative avenues for the release of sexual energies all week.

Re:Brief bio. & mughsot of Panna Felsen...

[colmore]

Certainly better looking that Kasparov.

Other Stats

[anonicon]

Since the jokes are going to be flying fast and furious over this, I thought I'd ask if anyone has links to other information about this cool research. Googling on polymer muscles brought up this page [nasa.gov], but I didn't see anything about their ability to carry semi-fluid weight loads like groceries, tools, etc.

One nice side note (hopefully) - since it's government funded through NASA, does this mean this work won't be patented and re-sold in the market for an even higher price than it will already cost?

Re:Other Stats

[Otter]

That "android facial expressions" movie is certainly, uhhh, creepy. The 17 year old girl has the polyymer robots beaten on that front, as well.

Re:Other Stats

[Jherek Carnelian]

One nice side note (hopefully) - since it's government funded through NASA, does this mean this work won't be patented and re-sold in the market for an even higher price than it will already cost?

Don't count on it - NASA "technology transfer" usually means paying a contractor to develop something and then letting the contractor keep all the rights to the work funded by taxpayers.

We actually benefitted from this once upon a time. I'm fuzzy on the details but I believe Russ Nelson developed some of the ea

Re:Other Stats

[Leo McGarry]

Yes, because we all know how much it sucks when people who fund private research selfishly expect to get their money back.

Even on the most innocuous topic, the trademark Slashdot myopia is everywhere.

Public funding == public domain

[Pfhorrest]

Disclaimer: I have not RTFA so I don't know who is actually funding this. That said...

The GP poster claimed that this was GOVERNMENT FUNDED research, done through NASA. While it may have been conducted by a private organization, if the funding money came from the government, that means that it came from "We, the people". Therefore, giving ownership of the resultant "intellectual property" (debates on the legitimacy thereof aside) to a particular corporation or individual is robbing "We, the people" from th

Re:Other Stats

[anonicon]

No offense, but if you read the article, this is taxpayer-funded research. NASA will have the choice (once this research produces polymer muscles ready for the medical market) of giving this to companies to develop for use with or without a patent behind the technology. It's my hope, for all the hard-case medical cases that will benefit from this technology, that the research is sold to companies without giving any of them exclusive rights to it for 17 years (which a patent does).

I say this since if more t

Re:Other Stats

[Leo McGarry]

To the two guys who jumped my shit for not knowing that this research was publicly funded: Duh. That wasn't my point. I thought that was pretty clear from the context of my comment.

Sigh.

Next on the list of things to do...

[3l1za]

That robot is gonna need a beer.

The Robots should aim lower

[michaeldot]

To win, the robots may need to choose weaker enemies.

Perhaps they should take a cue from the RIAA and take on 12-year girls [afterdawn.com].

Oh, and while we're being snide

[Cantide]

"The three robot teams are now trying to work out what went wrong."


"You think this plug is important, Lou?"
"Nah."

robots vs. slashdot

[_randy_64]

So the robots must have about the same physique and musculature of the average slashdot reader?

Re:robots vs. slashdot

[kusanagi374]

Not really... just a little bit more. I believe the geeks behind those robots decided they were good to go because all three robots were able to beat the "strongest" of 'em.

You do know how strong the average geek is, right? Lifting nano circuits sure is hard work!

This proves it further...

[powerlinekid]

Never arm wrestle a girl.

If you win, you get made fun of for beating a girl.
If you lose, you get made fun of for losing to a girl.

In this case, you get:
But at the time he thought it would take decades before the technology was ready to match humans. This first contest suggests he may have been right.

Thats almost as bad.

Re:This proves it further...

[soft_guy]

But at least you get to hold hands (sort of) with a girl which is someone no one on Slashdot has ever done.

From the article

[RaguMS]

"Panna, a self-confessed wimp, was chosen to represent humanity."

Wonderful. It doesn't sound like they expected it to be much of a contest. They should make the robot arms fight each other first until they get good enough to beat a self-confessed wimp. Then, maybe they won't be wasting everyone's time.

Re:From the article

[FLAGGR]

until they could beat eachother? I could take a walk down to the woods, grab two twigs, and have them arm wrestle eachother, but I'm guessing (and hoping) the winner of the match still wouldn't be able to face a human :P :)

Re:From the article

[FuturePastNow]

She may call herself a wimp, but it also says she was a competitive swimmer for eight years, which means she could probably kick my ass. I don't know about you.

It depends on her definition of "wimp." Maybe she's afraid of spiders or something. Or she's a weakly-interacting massive particle.

This girl

[bonch]

This girl could probably beat all of us up. Fear her.

You were warned...

[kickabear]

Skynet officials were quoted as saying, "yeah, but she's no Sarah Conner."

Pretty good

[mstyne]

for a girl.

robot girls...

[revery]

a 17-year-old girl called Panna Felsen

called? is the girl a robot as well?

whatever happened to named?

Re:robot girls...

[Meostro]

It's English, just not American:
English: A 17-year-old girl called Panna Felsen
American: A 17-year-old girl named Panna Felsen

Re:robot girls...

[RsG]

More importantly, where can I get these robot girls? And will they run linux?

(just kidding - we all know that there's no such thing as a girl :-) )

Re:robot girls...

[andy_shepard]

whatever happened to named?

If you need DNS to resolve her name, she's probably a robot.

Next time use high pressure hydraulics

[melted]

Next time use high pressure hydraulics, and crush this teenage girl's arm. That'll teach her.

Researchers Baffled

[Slayback]

The researchers were baffled at this result. "They always beat us in the lab, so I don't understand how this could happen!"

Intel StrongARM

[Devil's BSD]

Obviously, the polymer muscles were not controlled with Intel's StrongARM processors. Hook an iPaq up, and THEN rematch!

Re:Intel StrongARM

[GrAfFiT]

In fact, StrongARM is dead, now it's PXA/XScale.

What does this say about the scientist?

[MindStalker]

The scientist were apparently "suprised" at how easily their machines were beat. I'm sure they tested these machines before bringing them to this contest. What this basically means is that the scientist involved are bigger whimps than this girl.

Just goes to show

[Junior J. Junior III]

Even with mechanical advantages, geeks are still wimps.

Armwrestling: national sport of slashdot...

[elgatozorbas]

...putting the only well developed muscle to a good use.

Re:Armwrestling: national sport of slashdot...

[Ohreally_factor]

No, that would be wrist wrestling.

On a related note, can I claim that the blisters, calluses, and scabs on my pee pee are RSI related, and file for workman's comp?

Re:Armwrestling: national sport of slashdot...

[nsayer]

can I claim that the blisters, calluses, and scabs on my pee pee are RSI related, and file for workman's comp?

Damn, what do you do for a living?

Are they hiring?

Re:Armwrestling: national sport of slashdot...

[Ohreally_factor]

Obviously, I'm "self-employed".

"I'll sober up, but you'll stay ugly"

[mi]

The girl will become, at most, twice stronger than she is now. Maybe, if she tries hard -- thrice stronger.

The artificial muscles will, likely, become 10 or 100 times stronger 5-10 years from now.

KISS?

[rbarreira]

According to her bio [nasa.gov]:

In her junior year, she founded an engineering club at her school for which her robotics knowledge helped the team win KISS

A hot geek helping a bunch of geeks getting a KISS, with her robotics knowledge? My brain is hurting already...

Re:KISS?

[Ohreally_factor]

You shouldn't wear undepants that are so tight. I'm just guessing as to where your brain is located at the moment. =)

A Foregone Conclusion

[Monthenor]

Yoshimi couldn't let those robots eat me. It'd be tragic if those evil robots win.

I was a PhD researcher in this field

[maddu]

I was studying towards my doctorate in this specific field for two years. This particular challenge was touted for a long time and was supposed to be the holy grail that would establish for ever the authenticity of conductive polymers and this field. Too bad it hasn't turned out this way.

There was never enough "science" in this field. Too much sci-fi and reliance on empirical data rather than precise modeling and ability to predict force! Why, even a basic equation like F=Ma needed to be applied in twisted

Sounds Like Anime

[romper]

17-year-old girl, probably in a sailor suit, beating up robots. Yeah, I think I saw this one.

Cool! Gimme Muscle-type no. 1

[Phoenix666]

I'd last 20 seconds longer than the last time I arm-wrestled a girl...

There is a song by The Flaming Lips about that!

[adolfojp]

Her name is Yoshimi
she's a black belt in karate
working for the city
she has to discipline her body

'Cause she knows that
it's demanding
to defeat those evil machines
I know she can beat them

Oh Yoshimi, they don't believe me
but you won't let those robots eat me
Yoshimi, they don't believe me
but you won't let those robots defeat me

Those evil-natured robots
they're programmed to destroy us
she's gotta be strong to fight them
so she's taking lots of vitamins

Cheers,
Adolfo

Pit two machines against each other?

[smchris]

This is pretty interesting. A good opportunity to input the goal, vector and some parameters and see what a neural net would try to do with imitation human musculature?

Re:NPR Also Covered It

[JVert]

Bar-Cohen says he hopes the technology improves so that robotic arms can eventually compete against -- and beat -- world-champion arm wrestlers. The artificial muscles could lead to prosthetics and other devices, he says. But for now they will just be useless toys that are completly not newsworthy unless you make some sort of stupid contest thats not really a contest at all.

God I hope /. repost's this one. This is the most exciting thing all week! This contracting material has been around for about 12 years now and has finally matured enough to lose to a girl in an arm wrestling match.

Re:robot arms very robust.

[JVert]

too bored with it all to preview, please file spelling complaints here.

Re:Reminds me of highschool

[magarity]

who am I kidding... they still do

And you keep going back for more?

Re:Over the Top...

[Jozer99]

What if the robot won?

Re:What wasn't mentioned....

[frenchs]

oooh... and he gets a -1 Troll from the German Judge!

Re:Didn't they test the bots first?

[John Meacham]

Of course they did. It is expected it will be tens of years before they have synthetic muscles strong enough to beat a human. What will be interesting is when they can beat a chimp. A human adult has a grip strength of about 210 pounds, while an average chimpanzee has one of 1260!