I have been saying for years that the world needs more robotic balls. Did anyone listen? A company called ‘Orbotix’ did with their introduction of ‘Sphero’ at this year’s CES. Sphero is a robotic ball that can be controlled from an iOS, Windows Phone, or Android device that has Bluetooth. The beauty of Sphero is that the function isn't determined by the physical device, but by the software that is controlling it. For instance, a RC car is always a RC car, but Sphero could be a game of Sumo, a game of Office Golf, or even a wrecking ball knocking over augmented reality glass towers in your living room. The robot also uses what Orbotix call ‘Boostmode’ which gives the sphere a sort of speed boost for getting over hurdles or obstacles and also uses RGB LED’s to make thousands of different colors. The Sphero uses an induction charger, simply set Sphero down in its charger base and electricity will be wirelessly transmitted into the robot to charge the batteries. While the Sphero won’t be available to consumers until the next holiday season, and priced under $100, the API is open for developers to adapt into some potentially cool games. For more information please visit: http://www.gosphero.com/
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