Robotic ball to roll out next month.
The Sphero robotic ball is set to go on sale next month for US$130, with the makers claiming it “is like nothing you’ve seen before”.
The ball is controlled by touch via an iOS/Android App, or by tilting or swinging your phone/tablet. It claims to deliver a ‘mixed-reality’ experience, with games such as virtual golf for one or more players.
The bluetooth ball claims a 50 foot range, 3 feet per second speed, multi coloured LED lighting system, and an internal gyro/accelerometer/compass system for navigation. It is also charged via induction, meaning no annoying cables, with a one hour drive time from the included battery.
While it might be difficult to get too excited by a robotic ball - especially as only 6 apps or games are available initially - where this could get interesting is if the open source community gets behind it to create new and interesting uses for the device, as has been seen with Kinect.