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  • Author Author: ntewinkel
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littleBits to little bricks?

ntewinkel

I recently picked up a littleBricks Droid Inventor Kit from a local person who was frustrated with it and the company.

 

I can see now why she was frustrated with them.

 

It seems that littleBits was acquired by Sphero, and it looks like they are actively whittling away the older products, or maybe all littleBits products?

 

These kits require an app to drive them, and unfortunately the app for this particular Droid kit is no longer available on either app store. So I asked support to see if and where I could find the app.

 

This was their response:

Thank you for reaching out about your Droid Inventor Kit.

 

Sphero no longer supports or provides troubleshooting for the following products:

littleBits Droid Inventor Kit

littleBits Avenger Hero Kit

 

Only products purchased directly from Sphero or an authorized retailer are eligible for our manufacturer's warranty. Sphero and all authorized retailers stopped selling these products in 2019 so any purchases made within the last year are not covered under the one-year warranty.

 

I apologize that I am unable to offer you any assistance for your kit today.

 

Dang. One year out of warranty and they brick the kit. Without the app you can't do anything with it.

I noticed these products aren't cheap either.

 

I'm hoping it's just for these licensed kits due to licensing costs or contracts, because it would be sad to see the littleBits line disappear completely - they seem like a really great STEM teaching tool.

 

As for me, I'll try to get a direct BlueTooth connection to the controller to see if I can do anything with it, and otherwise I'll just have to fully customize this little droid image

I've lost a fair bit of trust in Sphero and littleBits though, if longer term support is that limited. Sadly, that's not too uncommon these days with cloud and app support - especially when companies go under or get acquired.

 

Cheers,

-Nico

 

Edit: Support says the apps were removed because they no longer have the rights. So "Boo Disney!" for killing the existing products, and yay that it's not due to littleBits in general going down.

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