Scott gets a demo of Orbotix‘s Sphero from Adam, one of the company’s founders. At first glance, Sphero is a robotic ball remotely controlled from a smartphone or tablet. Yes, I was kind of underwhelmed too, but fortunately, it’s a bit more than that. To start with, Sphero is as much a game development platform as it is a product and second, while you can move the ball as you’d expect, you can also get information back from the ball.
The example given in the video is that two Spheros can recognise when they’re close or touch each other, so tag or sumo games become a possibility. Taking it further, there could be augmented reality games where you move Sphero into objects only seen on screen.
On launch, Sphero will work with iOS and Android devices with ports to other smartphone platforms in the future. Available for the 2011 holiday season for under $100. If you are interested, you can make a reservation for your own Sphero or two.
Interview by Scott Elliot for the Tech Podcast Network.
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