Orbotix has got balls, smartphone controlled balls to be exact. This Boulder based company has been developing a new robotic ball that is driven by a smartphone app. The ball is a mere three inches in diameter. You might wonder how a smartphone will be able to control this little roller. That’s one of the coolest features.
The ball is controlled wireless through the phones Bluetooth. It can be up to 50 feet away from you as well. The ball is called the Sphero, and has a few more features than just being able to roll around. For one, the Spero looks pretty cool especially in the dark.
With RGB LED lights, the Sphero can be zipped around in the dark. The ball also has what is called Boost Mode which allows the ball to have a boost to get over an obstacle, or as the video shows, a jump. The ball is omni-directional, which simply means that the ball can move in any direction (which makes sense).
Being one of the first robotic balls in the world, the Sphero comes with a little more potential than has already been mentioned. Since the ball is controlled by a smartphone app, Orbotix has made it so there is open development. This means that the potential of the ball is as limitless as the app developer community—and the actual ball of course. The developers of the ball have also noted that the ball can be more than just a ball.
The ball, since it is Bluetooth wireless through a smartphone, could be used as a device that would have the ability to give weather, stocks, news, etc. Even though the ball will be coming out later this year, you can still reserve yours now. But until they do come out, we’ll just have to wait for Orbotix’s Sphero to come rolling in.
To see other robotic items take a look at Luna, the personal telepresence robot, and the Kinect-controlled robot.
Via: Inventor Spot / Gosphero
