Robot hand beats you at rock, paper, scissors 100% of the time
June 27, 2012
(Credit: Ishikawa Oku Lab at the University of Toyko)
A robot hand will play a game of rock, paper, scissors with you and wins every single time, IEEE Spectrum Automaton reports.
Created by the Ishikawa Oku Lab at the University of Toyko, it’s one of those high speed hands that works with a high speed vision system.
It only takes a single millisecond for the robot to recognize what shape your hand is in, and just a few more for it to make the shape that beats you, but it all happens so fast that it’s more or less impossible to tell that the robot is waiting until you commit yourself before it makes its move, allowing it to win 100% of the time.
Comments (12)
by Cybernettr
No big surprise here. we know computers are far faster than human reaction time, so the trick here was just to get a set of hydraulically-controlled “fingers” to keep up with it. You could probably fool it by putting your hand in front of a busy background, but that’s just a temporary measure before vision systems get better.
by David U
That video made me laugh. They played so fast. Is
Rock-paper-scissors-lizard-Spock next? (look it up on Wikipedia). Someday the robot will read its opponent’s mind, so it will have no delay AND make you breakfast AND give you the weather report at the same time.
by GatorALLin
…so can you fake a move…. then what does the robot do?? On the example with the paper and hand open and fingers apart that one looks obvious… and computer could beat you all the time… on the scissors, maybe you fake you will switch from rock to fool it?
what if your hand could do this? http://i1014.photobucket.com/albums/af261/GatorALLin/Other/hand.jpg
or just read this one….
http://i1014.photobucket.com/albums/af261/GatorALLin/Other/rockpaperrock.png
by asiwel
Well, yes, … I wouldn’t call this “winning” either. This child’s game is more about fun, chance, and probability than it is about perception. Might as well place a sensor on your opponent’s head to detect/decipher the next “decision” before the person even knows the body/brain has made it. Ha, put two of those together and you have a game played out literally “before” anyone knows anything at all about it!
by Mark Harrison
Across the room, I see my 7 year old playing tennis against a WII – the WII quite often wins :-) There are things that computers / robots do better than us. That’s beyond doubt – and we take advantage of that more and more every year.
The key word in the comments is the word ‘merge’ in Ed’s. I want the benefits of a high speed vision / control system in my house – I want it to sense me walking into the room, work out it’s dark, and turn on the lights for me…
… my kids don’t want it outside themselves… they’re integrated far more than I am, and I’m a CTO :-)
by lucb1e
Hmm maybe I can’t beat this robot, but certainly I must be able to train myself to do this :D
And I’d like to see two robots facing each other.
by Editor
good luck with that. aside from the visual advantage, there is also a motor-neuron delay time to deal with: robot reaction time: 1 millisecond. Human reaction time (top): ~120 milliseconds (approx., from memory).
by Ed Cotterell
Being faster than a human means you can beat a human. Computers will inherit the earth unless we merge with them, and even then, the fast evolving computer part of us will overwhelm the human part of us.
by DeBee Corley
So it sees my hand before it makes it’s move. Big deal, I put my hand in a box.
Then the robot is screwed.
by Deavman
@DeBee : Shroedinger would have a fit :-)
by Aleister Tanek Javas Mraz
Hahaha!!!
by SpottedMarley
goddamn cheating robots