Sphero Launches $300 iPhone-Controlled Lightning McQueen From Disney/Pixar's Cars

[MacRumors]

Continuing its partnership with Disney, Sphero today revealed its newest iPhone-controlled toy, this time themed after the Disney/Pixar Cars character Lightning McQueen. Sphero calls him the "Ultimate Lightning McQueen," letting users drive Lightning remotely via Bluetooth by using an iOS or Android application.

Lightning himself has authentic movement and animations which Sphero calls "emotive suspension," which allows Lightning to perform movie-accurate animations beyond simply driving around. According to TechCrunch, which spoke to Sphero about the launch, "his left and right sides also twitch up and down with excitement, and he'll speak and move in response to taps on his roof, hood and doors."

There's a full LCD display on Lightning's windshield that animates the character's eyes, and an animatronic mouth that moves as he talks. During playtime, users can drive Lightning away from them up to 100 feet, and one charge will last around 40 minutes.

Sphero worked closley with Pixar creative director Jay Ward and supervising animator Bobby Podesta, to ensure Lightning's personality and look was as close as possible to his representation in the movies.

"As our partnership with Disney has evolved, we've been able to start to look at further properties within the Disney portfolio," explained Product Manager Jenica Watts. "One of the teams had the opportunity to build an amazing, lifelike Lightning McQueen."

This was all supervised by Pixar's Jay Ward, who's creative director for the Cars franchise, with advice from Bobby Podesta, supervising animator on Cars 3. The end result is that Ultimate Lightning McQueen has a real sense of personality -- enough so that after we'd been charging him for a few minutes in the corner of the TechCrunch New York office, we had to put him to sleep because of his constant demands for attention.

In the iOS app, users will be able to drive Lightning around at speeds of up to 6 mph, with controls enabling reverse and drifting options. The app will allow users to directly interact with Lightning as well, with Sphero saying that there are "more than 150 animations for Lightning to perform."

Users will be able to string together various animations and voice lines into scripts with an "acting studio," creating their own miniature Cars storylines. He'll even offer his own commentary when a Cars movie is playing, thanks to the connected iPhone's microphone that will pick up the film's audio. The launch of Ultimate Lightning McQueen coincides with the upcoming release of Cars 3 in June.

Those interested can purchase their own Ultimate Lightning McQueen from Sphero's website today for $299.99.

Article Link: Sphero Launches $300 iPhone-Controlled Lightning McQueen From Disney/Pixar's Cars

 

[macduke]

I'm a Pixar fan, not really a Cars fan, but I think this is pretty freaking cool. They pretty much nailed it in their promo video. Let's see if all of those mechanical parts hold up in real life after a few crashes.

 

[itsmilo]

Do not show this to children.

- every dad everywhere

 

[Return Zero]

Wow. I'm strangely impressed. As far as movie toys go, this is a fantastic adaptation of a completely CG character.

 

[B.K.]

$300 dollars? Yikes.

 

[spencers]

Highly impressive little car! The moving mouth is just icing on the cake.

 

[jayducharme]

Highly impressive little car! The moving mouth is just icing on the cake.

At first I thought it would just be digitally altered for the ad. But the fact that the eyes and mouth actually function makes it a really impressive little piece of tech.

 

[longofest]

Wow. Just Wow.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

Highly impressive little car! The moving mouth is just icing on the cake.

I disagree that it's icing. I think the moving mouth is vital to achieve what they were going for.

If I were in charge of marketing this, I'd have a rule that no still images are allowed. The animation is really a core part of this. Without it, there's no way it's worth more than $50.

Even so, if I were in the market for spending hundreds on a toy car, I think I'd rather get this one:

Only $200 more. Doesn't mimic the animation of a CGI character, but mimics the look and function of an actual car.

 

[redscull]

Let's see if all of those mechanical parts hold up in real life after a few crashes.

Exactly. This is an expensive toy my kids would love that only daddy would be allowed to play with, and I feel like that ruins the market for it.

 

[shareef777]

I've got the Sphero BB8 toy for my son, and it's horrible. Very bad delay with the controls, extremely slow, and weak battery. Great marketing, nothing more.

 

[foqus]

Continuing its partnership with Disney, Sphero today revealed its newest iPhone-controlled toy, this time themed after the Disney/Pixar Cars character Lightning McQueen. Sphero calls him the "Ultimate Lightning McQueen," letting users drive Lightning remotely via Bluetooth by using an iOS or Android application.

Lightning himself has authentic movement and animations which Sphero calls "emotive suspension," which allows Lightning to perform movie-accurate animations beyond simply driving around. According to TechCrunch, which spoke to Sphero about the launch, "his left and right sides also twitch up and down with excitement, and he'll speak and move in response to taps on his roof, hood and doors."

There's a full LCD display on Lightning's windshield that animates the character's eyes, and an animatronic mouth that moves as he talks. During playtime, users can drive Lightning away from them up to 100 feet, and one charge will last around 40 minutes.

Sphero worked closley with Pixar creative director Jay Ward and supervising animator Bobby Podesta, to ensure Lightning's personality and look was as close as possible to his representation in the movies.
In the iOS app, users will be able to drive Lightning around at speeds of up to 6 mph, with controls enabling reverse and drifting options. The app will allow users to directly interact with Lightning as well, with Sphero saying that there are "more than 150 animations for Lightning to perform."

Users will be able to string together various animations and voice lines into scripts with an "acting studio," creating their own miniature Cars storylines. He'll even offer his own commentary when a Cars movie is playing, thanks to an included microphone that will pick up the film's audio. The launch of Ultimate Lightning McQueen coincides with the upcoming release of Cars 3 in June.

Those interested can purchase their own Ultimate Lightning McQueen from Sphero's website today for $299.99.

Article Link: Sphero Launches $300 iPhone-Controlled Lightning McQueen From Disney/Pixar's Cars

[doublepost=1495641580][/doublepost]It's been a while since I've seen the movie...but the voice sounds off. Does it incorporate the original voice from Cars (Owen Wilson)?

 

[hauntvictim]

Awesome, but $300 for 40 minutes with one charge? If I'm reading that correctly. Seems a bit excessive.

 

[macpeach55]

This is cool but pricey for a Toy..

But my wife & I both agreed if they bought out a Guido, that would be tough!

Love that Guy!

 

[patrickbarnes]

This is $20:

https://m.disneystore.com/vehicles-...te-control-vehicle-cars-3/mp/1427275/1000268/

I got it for my kid. It doesn't need a $1000 phone to make it go.

 

[sinsin07]

snip...

Only $200 more. Doesn't mimic the animation of a CGI character, but mimics the look and function of an actual car.

Ridiculous comparison.
Two different toys for two different use cases.

 

[pdaholic]

I can't see how controlling the car with a flat phone screen would be easy or fun. I always thought the traditional joystick controllers were a lot of fun growing up. $300 is too much as well. I suppose if you're a big fan it might be worth it?

 

[Mactendo]

I like these recent articles about small tech. It's much better and more interesting and useful than useless XXX released 0.0.0.1 update to YYY fixing minor bug and tweaking its icon.

 

[CaptMarvel]

The drifting feature looked pretty impressive.

 

[technopimp]

Based on the home used in the promo video, I'm guessing their target demo is a bit more affluent than those looking for a $20 toy car.

Having said that, I imagine this, much like the BB-8 (which I have) will be shelved after you've exhausted the list of things to do with it roughly 45 minutes after opening it up.

 

[Glassed Silver]

Impressive, too bad it NEEDS a smart device instead of just being augmented by one.

Glassed Silver:ios

 

[sudo1996]

I'm interested in how they got the mouth and such to move like that. This is really impressive, and I can see why it's $300.
[doublepost=1495683177][/doublepost]

[doublepost=1495641580][/doublepost]It's been a while since I've seen the movie...but the voice sounds off. Does it incorporate the original voice from Cars (Owen Wilson)?

I agree, doesn't sound right. Unfortunately, that kinda ruins it.
[doublepost=1495683308][/doublepost]

I can't see how controlling the car with a flat phone screen would be easy or fun. I always thought the traditional joystick controllers were a lot of fun growing up.

Yeah, I loved those controllers with the trigger and little steering wheel.

 

[ipedro]

Holy crap! I was about to say that that's deceiving advertising. Using a cartoon in the commercial as if it were the product. As I continued to watch, I thought it would be a great idea to use a display in the windshield to animate the eyes. Then I looked closer and that's exactly what they did! Wow... well done!

 

[Keane16]

This is $20:

https://m.disneystore.com/vehicles-...te-control-vehicle-cars-3/mp/1427275/1000268/

I got it for my kid. It doesn't need a $1000 phone to make it go.

Neither does this. You can pick up Android devices for a fraction of the price of this car.

If you want something Apple branded the iPhone SE starts at $399 direct from Apple. Or you could get an iPod Touch from them for $199. No doubt both of these cheaper at other retailers.

==============

This car looks really cool, makes me feel really old thinking back to the toys back when I was young.