I knew it! I knew there was a way to cheat at rock, paper, scissors. For years I've always fell victim to "champion" players – those so agile, adept and calculating that I could never seem to pick the right object to beat them at their own game. My paper would be cut by their scissors. My rock would be covered by their paper. Now I know the secret: Don't look the person in the eye while playing – watch their hand.
Researchers at the University of Tokyo have created a robot hand that touts a 100% win rate against human opponents. Equipped with a high-speed camera, the robot hand "sees" what object the person will throw down and uses the nano-second preview to its advantage.
While impressive, I would love to see what happens when you pit two robot hands against each other. I suspect both hands would feverishly throw out rocks, papers, and scissors at an alarming rate causing both to overload and catch fire. Does fire beat out all three?
At any rate, check out the video for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nxjjztQKtY
Traci Purdum
Senior Digital Editor