The EAP ArmWrestling Challenge

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• The EAP Arm-Wrestling Challenge
• Steven Deso, Noah Papas, Stephen Ros
• Advisor Dr. Cotton
• The goal of this project is to create a robotic
  arm to win an arm wrestling match against a human
  competitor. The arm will use Electro-Active
  Polymers (EAPs) as artificial muscles. The
  development of this device was inspired by the
  EAP Challenge, a competition proposed to the
  scientific community by Dr. Yoseph Bar Cohen.
  Due to the functional similarity of EAPs to human
  muscle fibers, this challenge has the ability to
  advance the field of biomimetics. As mechanics
  students at Virginia Tech, the project has a
  heavy emphasis on the mechanical analysis of arm
  movement, muscle contraction, EAP properties, and
  composite skeleton structure.

• Executive Summary Our project includes the
  design and construction of an artificial human
  arm which can successfully compete with a human
  in an arm wrestling competition. The design
  consists of a composite skeleton, artificial
  muscle, and an integrated control system. The
  composite skeleton will be fabricated using
  Vacuum Assisted Resin Transfer Molding (VARTM).
  The artificial muscle design consists of
  activated polyacrylonitrile (PAN) gel fibers
  integrated into an electrochemical cell. The
  resulting muscles will serve as actuators in the
  control system. The arms position and angular
  acceleration will be sensed by tilt angle
  sensors. The feedback will then be compared to an
  ideal equation of motion. The functionality of
  this design is meant to encompass only the
  motions and force generation required by the
  sport of arm wrestling.