WASHINGTON – So much for the “rock always wins” tactic.

A new robot out of Japan can anticipate the correct move in a game of rock-paper- scissors 100 percent of the time.

Telekinesis? Not quite. The “janken robot” from Ishikawa Oku Laboratory at the University of Tokyo implements a high-speed vision camera connected to its high-speed robot hand to accurately see the opponent’s move and respond within 1 millisecond.

The “wrist” portion of the machine lines up with the position of the human opponent’s. The developers say this technology is an example of “cooperation control” and could be used for “motion support of human beings and cooperation work between human beings and robots.”

Better to have cooperation than automoton overthrow. Check out the footage here:

H/T Kottke.org.

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