Trama

Penny ends up tagging along on Sheldon's first ever date with Amy, while Howard finds an unusual use for a robotic arm.

It's been four months since Sheldon met neuro-biologist Amy Farrah Fowler, who Sheldon believes is his intellectual equal as well as his emotional female equivalent. Although they text each other every day, they never see each other and Sheldon doesn't consider her his girlfriend. That fact does not stop the guys from naming the two of them "Shamy". Regardless of them being boyfriend/girlfriend or not, Sheldon and Amy are thinking about having a baby together - via in vitro fertilization as Sheldon regards coitus as being too "messy" - to bless the world with their progeny. Penny convinces Sheldon that he should get to know the mother of his future child by going on date with Amy, this date which would be his first ever. As Sheldon needs a ride to the date, Penny, his chauffeur, ends up accompanying him on the date, which she quickly comes to regret. Meanwhile, Howard has developed a mechanical arm to be used as a repair tool aboard the international space station. Showing it off to the gang, Howard demonstrates to them what it can do. But he also finds some personal uses for the arm, which gets him into an embarrassing and slightly painful predicament.—Huggo

Howard (Simon Helberg) demonstrates a robotic arm that he "borrowed recently" from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Penny (Kaley Cuoco) comes to know of Sheldon's (Jim Parsons) new friend, Amy Farrah Fowler (Mayim Bialik). To everyone's surprise, Sheldon announces his plans to conceive a child with Amy via In-Vitro fertilization because of their superior genetics using Penny as a surrogate mother. Penny suggests that Sheldon should go out with Amy in order to get to know the future mother of his child.

Sheldon is knocking on Penny's door and tells her that he has decided go on a date with Amy and that she has to take him. Penny tells him to get Leonard (Johnny Galecki) to drive him, but Sheldon informs her that Leonard said it was Penny's "cockamamie" idea, get her to do it. He further informs her that they are going to be late and need to hurry. Penny inquires as to whether Leonard actually said "cockamamie." Sheldon said that he grew up in a Christian home and was uncomfortable repeating the language Leonard actually used. To that Penny said, "Well, let me get my cockamamie keys."

Meanwhile, Howard continues experimenting with the robotic arm, using it as a massage device. He makes a comment about it feeling just like a real hand, then has an epiphany when he thinks of something else he could have his robotic arm do. Penny picks Amy up and the car turns silent, so Penny tries to start a conversation. She is taken aback by Amy's stubbornness, akin to Sheldon's, and all of her attempts to make conversation fail.

Meanwhile, Howard tries to use the robotic arm to masturbate, and gets his genitals stuck in an awkward position. He calls Leonard and Raj (Kunal Nayyar) for help, and lies to them that he accidentally slipped over the arm. Leonard and Raj don't believe him and, finding the situation funny, offer many ridiculous solutions to the complete frustration of Howard.

Penny, Sheldon and Amy go to a restaurant where Penny tries to bring up conversations between them including the topic of tonight being Sheldon's first date. Her attempts fail and to her annoyance, Sheldon calculates the number of dates that Penny might have had in her life by extrapolating the data he collected over the past three years. He comes up with a number: 193. Amy wonders if Penny has had sex with all these men, to which Sheldon believes is a possibility. He then proceeds to calculate the number of cases that might have resulted in sexual encounters and gets the number: 31. Penny, feeling so embarrassed, thinks she might need a drink. To add to this, Amy asks her whether she ever felt like a "s**t." Penny denies it twice and then is not so sure about herself the third time she says no. Amy admits to having had many more orgasms during experiments by having the pleasure centers of her brain stimulated.

Leonard and Raj take Howard to the hospital emergency room (previously seen in The Peanut Reaction) along with the robotic arm. The nurse, Althea (Vernee Watson), turns off the computer that controlled the arm, and Howard is freed. He was worried if the program was activated again, that the hand would start twisting, thinking it was holding a screwdriver.

Finally, Penny convinces Sheldon to drop his plans to have an In-Vitro fertilization with Amy after threatening to tell his religious mother about an out-of-wedlock test tube grandchild. Howard calls Leonard again, saying he is "stuck again".

Title reference: Howard's use of a robotic arm for masturbation.