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Sphero is a small plastic ball (made by Orbotix) that is controlled with an app on your Android/ios phone, tablet or music player. It is made of a poly carbonate shell and has innards that consist of Bluetooth and robot parts as well as an LED light. It connects with your phone after you shake it twice to awake it from sleep.
Today began with me receiving a call from the boys Orbotix, Adam and Chuck called me and what started as what would’ve been a 15 minute question and answer call became an hour of robot talk.
I asked them questions about the future, about their hackathon and if they’d be at Google io(yes). Their hackathon Is kind of what it sounds like, a hacking get together where people toy around with sphero. I offered that the hackathon should be broadcast on google hangouts, they didn’t give me a for sure yes or no, but they sounded interested.
They let me know there should be some new apps and features coming very shortly, Sphero has quite a bit of guts inside that shell. It already has an odometer you can see by going into settings and signing up for Sphero World, more coming soon to Sphero World as well.
They couldn’t comment much on the future, just letting me know they have a few thoughts for other balls but nothing coming any time soon as sphero I’d brand new and going all over, they sell them online from gosphero.com as well as thinkgeek.com and just today at brookstone. They’re moving forward which is awesome. We talked about them wanting to make them more dog and car friendly as well as the durability, these things are tough, today I drove it off the curb with no negative repercussion. The lights and systems all work still.
As for the actual ball, it drives like a dream and it’s easy to learn add well, right now it works on any idevice and all Android phones. Some versions are spotty but if you contract the support team they get right back to you, they’re very quick and efficient.
I’ve enjoyed my time with sphero and I have fun with it, my cat, dogs and niece all love it as well. I’m excited to see what Orbotix has to show us soon