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macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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30,342



Sphero1-150x138.jpg


In the same "fun, but impractical" vein as the AR.Drone quadricopter, the Sphero is a robotic ball remotely controlled by an app on the iPhone.

Approximately the size of a baseball, the Sphero connects to the iPhone via Bluetooth and recharges via an induction-charging stand. Orbotix, the company behind Sphero, has written a number of iPhone apps and games to use with the ball, including Sphero golf and a KittyCam app that let's users share the Sphero experience with their feline friends -- and capture the whole thing with the iPhone's video camera:

Video: Sphero + Cats

The Sphero will be available later this year for $129.99. It's currently available for pre-order from GoSphero.com.

Hat tip to Business Insider.

Article Link: Sphero: The Robotic Ball Controlled By an iPhone
 
Last edited by a moderator:

JS3

macrumors regular
Apr 15, 2010
203
1
Cool. Kinda pricey. Under $60 maybe but $130 wow. My dog would go nuts chasing this around.
 

Shrink

macrumors G3
Feb 26, 2011
8,929
1,727
New England, USA
Cool. Kinda pricey. Under $60 maybe but $130 wow. My dog would go nuts chasing this around.

And if your dog is any bigger than a chihuahua, he/she will probably chew the s*** out of it,leaving $130 worth of detritus. :p ;) :D

BTW: $130 to roll a ball around the room?? Oh, yeah, I forgot, we get to use our iPhone to control it. Definitely an exciting prospect. :rolleyes:
 

1eyedwilli3

macrumors newbie
Aug 24, 2011
20
0
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

Yea I'll pass. When I can get a friggen remote control helicopter from Griffen for half that!!!!
$130
Epic fail.
 

kny3twalker

macrumors 65816
Oct 25, 2009
1,241
0
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_8 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8E401 Safari/6533.18.5)

Too expensive but awesome idea. $49.99 and my cat would love it. The challenge though would be keeping the dog at bay.
 

nagromme

macrumors G5
May 2, 2002
12,546
1,196
I’ve been waiting for this. Bring it under $100 (which seems likely enough). Less would be better, but I like toys and buy very few of them. I can swing $99.
 

Moonjumper

macrumors 68030
Jun 20, 2009
2,740
2,908
Lincoln, UK
I was trying to sell a similar idea (minus using an iPhone as the remote) to toy companies about 5 years ago. No interest from them at all.

I even invented a game so that you had something to do with it. In handball you use your hands to control the ball. In football (except the American sport of the same name) you use your feet to control the ball. So I introduce Ballball... Control the ball with your ball on a small ice hockey shaped pitch (it needs barriers or you'd lose the ball all the time).
 

Sackvillenb

macrumors 6502a
Mar 1, 2011
573
2
Canada! \m/
Yeah, I saw this recently... it seems pretty awesome, with a lot of potentially fun and interesting uses... kind of a pricey toy though, but it would be pretty cool to have one...!

On a vaguely related note, there's a company I know that makes automated drones (air and sea drones), and they are starting to make software for iphones and ipads to control their drones... seems pretty cool...
 

Shrink

macrumors G3
Feb 26, 2011
8,929
1,727
New England, USA
Yeah, I saw this recently... it seems pretty awesome, with a lot of potentially fun and interesting uses... kind of a pricey toy though, but it would be pretty cool to have one...!

On a vaguely related note, there's a company I know that makes automated drones (air and sea drones), and they are starting to make software for iphones and ipads to control their drones... seems pretty cool...

Aside from fun for your pet, what other "fun and interesting uses" are there?

No sarcasm intended - just interested. :D :)
 

accessoriesguy

macrumors 6502a
Jul 8, 2011
891
0
I was trying to sell a similar idea (minus using an iPhone as the remote) to toy companies about 5 years ago. No interest from them at all.

I even invented a game so that you had something to do with it. In handball you use your hands to control the ball. In football (except the American sport of the same name) you use your feet to control the ball. So I introduce Ballball... Control the ball with your ball on a small ice hockey shaped pitch (it needs barriers or you'd lose the ball all the time).

It would suck if they stole your idea, did you patten it? a remote controlled ball?
 

DeepIn2U

macrumors G5
May 30, 2002
12,821
6,876
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Pretty cool until the novelty wears off and you're left asking yourself "I paid $130 for this?"

Indeed. Still a great product and I think I'll want to try it. I somehow thought this was done before close to a decade ago with something else.

Some things for improvement:
1. Allow WiFi (802.11b for better power, maybe?) for control - greater distances,
2. Allow for small coloured LEDs: I want a crazy disco ball close to a laser light show - ability to follow auto-movement patterns for music playback ;)

However the code and API's could be used for better things down the pipe - RC cars (helicopters already done over WLAN), track mounted security cameras (SSL internet controlled), etc.
 
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