--- description: MIT student creates a robot that plays Connect Four as his final for a course. title: WATCH: This Robot Would Very Much Like to Play a Game of Connect Four With You image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Newsfeed](/tag/time-section-newsfeed/) ## Newsfeed Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # This Robot Would Very Much Like to Play a Game of Connect Four With You by [Samantha Grossman](/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 21, 2014 7:12 PM CUT by [Samantha Grossman](/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 21, 2014 7:12 PM CUT When [the singularity](http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2048299,00.html "undefined") finally hits and artificial intelligence takes over everything, at least we know some of the robots will know how to have a good time — like this Connect Four-playing bot, programmed by MIT student [Patrick McCabe](http://patrickmccabemakes.com/ "undefined"). Users can choose between four levels of difficulty and can even ask for a hint if needed. Head over to McCabe’s [website](http://patrickmccabemakes.com/hardware/Connect%5FFour%5FRobot/ "undefined") for a detailed breakdown of how the machine works. In the meantime, watch here as the bot beats McCabe in the first round — and even taunts him a little bit before clinching the game. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3013546/connect-four-robot/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3013546/connect-four-robot/"},"headline":"This Robot Would Very Much Like to Play a Game of Connect Four With You","datePublished":"2014-07-21T19:12:27.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:11:49.825Z","description":"Game on","url":"https://time.com/3013546/connect-four-robot/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Technology","robots"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Samantha Grossman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3013546/connect-four-robot/","name":"This Robot Would Very Much Like to Play a Game of Connect Four With You"}}]}] ```