Now, you would hope that the world’s scientists are spending their time trying to solve problems that have plagued humanity forever. Again, you would hope. But, it seems the researchers over at the Ishikawa Oku Laboratory in Tokyo, Japan are spending their time wisely by making a robotic hand that never loses at Rock-Paper-Scissors.
Because, that needed to happen.
Just kidding, this thing is actually pretty awesome! Just watch it in action in the video below:
MSNBC writes:
When someone claims they’re good at rock-paper-scissors, they’re usually just trying to psyche you out so they can predict your next move. But this robot, created by the Ishikawa Oku Laboratory in Japan, doesn’t need to psyche you out, because it knows it will beat you every single time.
How can it do it? One thing it certainly doesn’t do is any kind of high-level analysis of the game. It doesn’t put your last sequence of moves through a complex semantic analysis and try to predict the move. It doesn’t use anti-random tactics like “five scissors in a row” to throw you off. All it needs is a high-speed camera and quick reflexes.
Yes, the robot cheats. By watching the image from a camera that can determine the position of your hand every millisecond, it is aware of your move the very moment you make it. And as soon as your hand starts to form that rock, the robot is giving you some paper to wrap it up. At the very end of the video, you can see the tiny delay between the human making a move and the robot reacting — but it happens so fast that you wouldn’t notice except when shown in slow-motion.
Read more at futureoftech.msnbc.com