Here's the dream for those college years: a  beer pong partner that never gets drunk. Researchers in Massachusetts have developed a robotic arm that can shoot balls across a beer pong table — and score nearly every time. Want to challenge the Versaball? The invention, built by Boston startup Empire Robotics, will make its debut appearance at the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this January. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO . The Versaball, developed by Boston startup Empire Robotics, picks up a ping-pong ball as it prepares to launch . Aim, fire: The robotic arm, which has near-perfect accuracy, gets ready to launch (left) and scores (right) 'The robot is not perfect, so it's possible for a human to win, but it's pretty good, so you'd have to be pretty good at beer pong,' project manager John Dean told Yahoo News. To make the shots, scientists calibrate the arm by aiming at the cup in the center-back row. Researchers then shoot about 10 times to make sure the robot got it — and from there, the computer takes over and calculates the location for the rest of the cups . Engineers hope the Versaball could be outfitted to to grab and relocate items in manufacturing . 'If you watch the video, you will see that the robot does not shoot from the same position each time,' Dean told Yahoo News. 'It moves according to which cup it's aiming at.' Despite its fun use, the Versaball has serious applications. Experts at Empire Robotics hope the technology will be applied to manufacturing and packaging tasks, where a similar arm can grab and drop pills, bricks, light bulbs and other materials. 'What we use it for is generally industrial automation,' Dean told Yahoo News. 'You'd see it in automotive factories, consumer electronics factories, and small mom-and-pop shops that are making little gizmos and gadgets.' Although this technology — which uses components called 'granular materials' — has been around since the 1970s, it has only recently been used in a practical way, according to Yahoo News. Engineer John Amend, who co-founded Empire Robotics, first created a robot that throws darts and ping-pong balls while working on his PhD at Cornell University. For more videos, please go to YouTube .
The Versaball, built by Boston startup Empire Robotics, can aim and shoot ping-pong balls across a table with excellent precision .
Engineers say the machine isn't perfect, but it's good enough that only excellent players can beat it .
Want to challenge the robot? Versaball will make its debut appearance at the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this January .
Here's the dream for those college years: a  beer pong partner that never gets drunk. Researchers in Massachusetts have developed a robotic arm that can shoot balls across a beer pong table — and score nearly every time. Want to challenge the Versaball? The invention, built by Boston startup Empire Robotics, will make its debut appearance at the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this January. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO . The Versaball, developed by Boston startup Empire Robotics, picks up a ping-pong ball as it prepares to launch . Aim, fire: The robotic arm, which has near-perfect accuracy, gets ready to launch (left) and scores (right) 'The robot is not perfect, so it's possible for a human to win, but it's pretty good, so you'd have to be pretty good at beer pong,' project manager John Dean told Yahoo News. To make the shots, scientists calibrate the arm by aiming at the cup in the center-back row. Researchers then shoot about 10 times to make sure the robot got it — and from there, the computer takes over and calculates the location for the rest of the cups . Engineers hope the Versaball could be outfitted to to grab and relocate items in manufacturing . 'If you watch the video, you will see that the robot does not shoot from the same position each time,' Dean told Yahoo News. 'It moves according to which cup it's aiming at.' Despite its fun use, the Versaball has serious applications. Experts at Empire Robotics hope the technology will be applied to manufacturing and packaging tasks, where a similar arm can grab and drop pills, bricks, light bulbs and other materials. 'What we use it for is generally industrial automation,' Dean told Yahoo News. 'You'd see it in automotive factories, consumer electronics factories, and small mom-and-pop shops that are making little gizmos and gadgets.' Although this technology — which uses components called 'granular materials' — has been around since the 1970s, it has only recently been used in a practical way, according to Yahoo News. Engineer John Amend, who co-founded Empire Robotics, first created a robot that throws darts and ping-pong balls while working on his PhD at Cornell University. For more videos, please go to YouTube .
that can shoot balls across a beer pong table — and score nearly every time. Want to challenge the Versaball? The invention, built by Boston startup Empire Robotics, will make its debut appearance at the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this January. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO . The Versaball, developed by Boston startup