--- description: Despite its talent, drinking games are not the robot's primary function title: This Robot is the World's Best Beer Pong Player image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc9409eb9cf7827ca/698778b735ba6fc898c065e5/184652680-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Tech](/tag/time-section-tech/) ## Tech Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # This Robot is the World's Best Beer Pong Player by [Noah Kaufman / Food & Wine](/author/food-wine-2/) ## Noah Kaufman / Food & Wine Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 8, 2015 4:22 PM CUT  Beer Pong Beer PongGetty Images by [Noah Kaufman / Food & Wine](/author/food-wine-2/) ## Noah Kaufman / Food & Wine Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 8, 2015 4:22 PM CUT Sorry frat guys, you’re about to become obsolete. Ahead of this week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Empire Robotics showed its new creation, [the VERSABALL](http://empirerobotics.com/ "undefined"), absolutely crushing a round of beer pong. Despite its talent, drinking games are not the primary function of the VERSABALL. It’s actually a robot that grips and lifts, made to perform tasks for the disabled or to tackle jobs like screwing in a light bulb in a hard-to-reach place. But someone at Empire—probably just after happy hour—realized that this invention could also succeed in throwing a pingpong ball into a plastic cup better than any human ever could. And lest you think this is just a step toward the automation of the college experience, there is an actual reason the VERSABALL is playing pong: It is meant to show off the ability of the robot to handle delicate objects without damaging them. And to that end, it does a great job. To see if the machines really are taking over, you can watch the VERSABALL in a robot matchup at CES that took place Jan. 6, when it played the winner of the [World Series of Beer Pong](http://www.bpong.com/ "undefined")—which is also going on right now in Vegas. The smart betting is on the VERSABALL, but we’ll see what happens after it’s had five or six beers. _This_ [_article_](http://www.foodandwine.com/fwx/secrets/amazing-robot-worlds-best-beer-pong-player "undefined") _originally appeared on_ [_FWx_](http://www.foodandwine.com/fwx/ "undefined")_._ _More from FWx:_ * [Which College Drinking Game is Right For You Now?](http://www.foodandwine.com/fwx/secrets/which-college-drinking-game-right-you-now?xid=PS%5Ftime "undefined") * [Automated Cocktail Robot Gets $2 Million to Try to Replace Bartenders](http://www.foodandwine.com/fwx/drink/automated-cocktail-robot-gets-2-million-try-replace-bartenders?xid=PS%5Ftime "undefined") * [Learn How to Play 6 Fun, Strange & Potentially Deadly Historical Drinking Games](http://www.foodandwine.com/fwx/learn-how-play-6-fun-strange-potentially-deadly-historical-drinking-games?xid=PS%5Ftime "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3658308/robot-beer-pong/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3658308/robot-beer-pong/"},"headline":"This Robot is the World's Best Beer Pong Player","datePublished":"2015-01-08T16:22:06.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:04:07.297Z","description":"Despite its talent, drinking games are not the robot's primary function","url":"https://time.com/3658308/robot-beer-pong/","keywords":["Tech","Beer","Technology","Las Vegas","Robot","ces 2015"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc9409eb9cf7827ca/698778b735ba6fc898c065e5/184652680-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Noah Kaufman / Food & Wine"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc9409eb9cf7827ca/698778b735ba6fc898c065e5/184652680-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"RobotBeerPong","caption":"RobotBeerPong","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"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":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-tech/","name":"Tech"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3658308/robot-beer-pong/","name":"This Robot is the World's Best Beer Pong Player"}}]}] ```