Bar-Cohen has mapped out all the aspects of technology development, from research bibliographies to test and measurement services to materials suppliers and production equipment. He also started the International Society for Optical Engineering's (SPIE's) electroactive-polymer conference, which he has chaired for the past five years, and he publishes a newsletter to alert developers to research breakthroughs.

Bar-Cohen said his site "is in line with my efforts to help mentor the establishment of the field infrastructure with good science and engineering foundations and effective production and characterization techniques, as well as standard products and a well-documented database."

Bar-Cohen has made fundamental discoveries in the field of electroactive polymers, having established the Nondestructive Evaluation and Advanced Actuators Lab at the Jet Propulsion Lab in 1991. In 1999, to spur development in the new field and to garner some publicity, Bar-Cohen hit on the idea of sponsoring an arm-wrestling contest between a human and an artificial arm.

The goal of the arm-wrestling challenge is to "see a [robotic] hand made at a performance level [capable] of winning against a human," Bar-Cohen said. Further in the future, he expects to see realistic humanoids built with artificial muscle. He has even edited a book on the subject: Biologically Inspired Intelligent Robots, part of the SPIE Press Monograph Series.

The first arm-wrestling contest is slated for March. As the date draws near, Bar-Cohen has gotten a lot of press and has even been called "the Artificial Muscle Man," which might conjure mental images of Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator.

But Bar-Cohen is making strides the old-fashioned way — by thoroughly exercising his natural brain.