You Can't Beat This Googly-Eyed Robot With A 3D Printed Hand At Rock, Paper, Scissors

YouTuber and former NASA engineer Mark Rober is betting on his robot being able to beat anyone, every time, in Rock-Paper-Scissors. He is so confident about his robot, affectionately named Rocky, beating any competitor he has offered $10,000 to anyone who can win against the googly-eyed robot. Don't worry, it should not be able to break a finger during a match like a Russian robot did last year.

To be clear, Rocky has an upper hand in being able to win every time. The robot uses a hand motion detector, and a mini computer to track hand movements, and finger positions of its competition 100 times per second in order to accurately predict which sign the human will toss out. Rober demonstrated in the video below that it did not matter how slowly he moved his hand, or how fast, Rocky seemed to still make the winning call.


Rober does mention a system that increases a person’s odds of winning at Rock-Paper-Scissors in the video as well. If the opponent wins, they are more likely to stay with their previous choice. If they lose, they are more likely to shift their next choice to the option next in line of Rock-Paper-Scissors. In short, if someone wins, go to the next in line in Rock-Paper-Scissors. If someone loses, they should go backward in the order. If done correctly, it should result in winning roughly 75% of the time. Well, unless it is against Rocky. In that case, the odds remain at zero, according to Rober.

This is not the first robot designed to compete in Rock-Paper-Scissors. The Ishikawa Group Laboratory in Tokyo, Japan, developed a robot called Janken. Just as Rocky expects to win 100% of the time, Janken also claimed a 100% success rate using high-speed tracking technology.

Time will tell if anyone can actually beat Rocky and claim the Rock-Paper-Scissors crown and the $10,000 that comes with it. What do you think your odds would be at beating Rocky? Let us know in the comments.