Sphero by Orbotix @ CES 2011

Robot manufacturers Orbotix showcased their latest and innovative robot ball Sphero at CES 2011 which took place in Las Vegas, USA. Now, at first glance, you will say that Sphero is just another ball like robot which can be wirelessly controlled and do a few errands. But there is more to it than meets the eye! Sphero is not meant to do household chores like vacuum cleaning or to do perform dance steps for entertaining audience. It is a highly versatile machine which can be controlled by your laptop or even a mobile phone. Its versatility arises from the fact that its functioning doesn’t depend on the physical device but the software that is used to program it. You can use this robot ball lying on your living room floor for a sumo wrestling game against your pal’s sphero, or a game of office golf, or a racing car, or a game of pinball. The possibilities are endless. A lot more changing virtual environments can be witnessed in computer games but never before had this much creativity been experienced with aid of a physical device making sphero a boon for mobile app developers around the world.

Sphero uses Bluetooth for wirelessly connecting with the controller. Wi-fi has not been used as it requires a complex setup which is quite annoying to users. So once you get your Sphero paired with a laptop or a cell, all you need to do is tap it twice to wake it up from sleep mode and it is ready to go! Sphero is charged using induction technique, so no messy wires for feeding power.

This unique ball is having a diameter of 74mm which is approximately equal to that of a billiards ball. Thus the ball is large enough to travel easily across your room and small enough to fit in your pocket or bag. It also has a “boost” mode which provides a little extra kick to it. Like, in a game of sumo, you can use it at the right moment to throw your opponent out of the ring. However there is a compromise in controllability when this mode is used so the timing must be perfect!

The Sphero uses a RGB LED light to glow. You can choose this color out of a thousand options provided in the on-screen color picker. In this way you can identify your ball or your team in case of multiplayer games. It has an omnidirectional drive so you can move in any direction from a standstill position.

All in all, this Smartphone controlled, iOS and Android compatible robot with an open development API is going to sell like hot cakes as soon asit hits the market in late 2011.

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