Let me introduce you to Sphero…
The top mathematicians and scientists from around the globe have come together to make the impossible, possible. They have put their blood, sweat and tears into the creation of something so astoundingly brilliant that the mind can do nothing but boggle at the concept. At first glance, one may seem bemused by what appears to be merely a 3-inch ball sat before them, but don’t make the mistake of underestimating this little guy my friends, because the Sphero ball encapsulates the same kind of bewildering technology that landed man on the moon!! Hard to believe i know, but trust me, I wouldn’t lie to you! This orbotix sphero is the emblem of the mind-blowing machinery that 21st century modern technology can create! So listen up and remember the name: Sphero – because this right here is making history.
To get technical, the Sphero ball is the first robotic ball gaming system that is controlled by your iOS or Android. The Sphero is a smart robot with a built in sensor network, multi-axis gyro and an accelerometer (an instrument for measuring acceleration, typical of cars, air-crafts, ships and space-crafts)! The Sphero robotic ball is protected by a high impact polycarbonate shell. The orbotix Sphero also contains a multi-coloured LED light that produces literally a thousand different colours! Sphero connects to your iOS or Android device via bluetooth. You use your electronic device to steer, guide and control your Sphero, just like an xbox controller, only the controller is your iphone etc and the Sphero is your virtual game-player. So the Sphero robotic ball is perfect for single or multi-player game-play!
Remember when you were little, those endless hours of playing on your ps3 or xbox, and at times you’d wish that you could just jump into the TV and play yourself? Well with the Sphero ball, this is possible. The Sphero can transport you into a virtual realm that makes real-life and game-play merge into one virtual paradise. It’s really no wonder that President Obama has gone and got his very own Sphero! And Macworld have commented that the Sphero ball has “enough techno-cool to make a geek’s heart skip a beat!” Along with The New York Times and Spike (the top Japanese video game-player developer and publisher), who have nothing but high remarks for our robot ball. The Sphero has caused quite the stir amongst the world’s top developers, and we can see why!!
Some more great things to know about the Sphero…
There are loads more great Sphero Apps coming soon, so I know there will be something for absolutely everyone and anyone! The orbotix Sphero is really easy to use and steer and you’ll soon figure out what Sphero is all about once you start having a play with this remarkable robot ball! What shocked me the most was that Sphero can go into water, so this electronic robot ball can actually swim and move around in the water with you controlling it! Unlike most highly sophisticated electronic devices, the Sphero robotic ball is very strong and is made out of a strong material in its outer shell, so although you can’t and shouldn’t be too rough with it (as after all it is a technological miracle inside a 3-inch sphere ball), Sphero doesn’t break easily like most complex technology. So Sphero can be enjoyed by everyone!
Check out the Sphero Apps:
I’ll just give you a quick overview of what Sphero can actually do and how some of the Sphero Apps work.
Sphero Drive App:
The Sphero Drive App has three different means from which you can control and drive your robot ball, Sphero. So i’ll just run through those three ways with you now to give you an idea of how the Sphero Drive App works…
So first of all you can have a play around with the Joy stick control.
With this, you can make the orbotix Sphero go in pretty much any direction you want it to go – up, down, right, left, diagonal, circles – anything! Surprisingly, it makes controlling Sphero very flexible so it’s really easy to control and steer the robot ball. If you’re comfortable with the steering, then you can adjust the speed of the ball on the Sphero Drive App. You can choose from comfortable, regular and crazy speed, so there’s a speed for everyone in a range of difficulties. When you’re on crazy speed it will turn a lot quicker without making big circles and you can actually do a drift with the Sphero, it slides across my wooden floor and I found that pretty cool! There’s also a boost button to give Sphero an extra boost of speed to go over jumps or even over a rug or something in your house – very fun!
Secondly you can use the Jiroscel.
With this you can tilt your device to control the Sphero ball. It’s also pretty easy to control it this way too. This is probably a lot more fun for kids to actually be able to tilt their device and move with their Sphero, but I also found this way really fun to play with!
And lastly for the Sphero Drive App, you can use the RC Car Layout.
You can only go left, right, forward and backwards on this one. And surprisingly, this was quite hard to operate as a means of controlling the robot ball. So when you’re getting good at the other Sphero Drive ways of controlling the Sphero, you can then challenge yourself with the RC Car Layout and see if you can master this one!
In the Sphero Drive App, as in most of the Sphero Apps, you can change the colour of the sphero ball. The Sphero contains pretty much the entire colour scale so you can make it literally any colour you want. I found this an awesome edition to the Sphero!
Sphero Draw ‘N’ Drive App:
With the Sphero Draw ‘N’ Drive App you simply draw lines and your sphero will follow whatever you draw! Circles, lines, squares, squiggles – whatever you want! This is pretty cool to draw a pattern and watch the sphero ball remember it and follow it before your eyes! Also whilst you’re doing that you can change the colour of the Sphero robotic ball because they have a little colour wheel on the app which is also great fun!
SpheroCam App:
The SpheroCam App operates by a joy stick from which you can control the sphero ball and it allows you to take pictures and videos of you playing with the Sphero. This is cool if you want to take a video of you playing with the Sphero whilst you are actually playing with it on your phone – no camera man needed! You could post the video to your facebook or twitter account for everyone to be marvelled by what the Sphero ball can do! Again, the SpheroCam app is really easy to use, so anyone, including kids can have a play with SpheroCam App.
Sphero Golf App:
The Sphero Golf App turns your sphero ball into a golf ball! This is probably one of my favourites! So you’d want to create some kind of hole in your house or outside. Or you can do what I did and create your own homemade golf course! A cup is what I used just as a little tip, it works just as well as anything else, just make sure the Sphero ball can fit into it nicely. So to use the Sphero Golf App, just flick the green golf ball on the Sphero Golf App and then your sphero ball will follow in the direction that you command. Another way is to control it by swinging your golf ball on the Sphero Golf App and lining it up with the hole where you want the sphero ball to go. I found this quite tricky and it certainly tested my golfing skills, but it’s still really fun to play with Sphero in this App!
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