Originally sold as the world’s first remote control ball, Sphero’s baseball-sized rolling toy has evolved over the years to eventually become one of the most accessible ways to learn the basics of coding robots. Bolt, the company’s latest creation, adds new abilities and ways to automate the bot’s behavior, including…
When the original BB-8 toy hit the market, it seemed like a match made in tech heaven. In fact, the use of Sphero’s remote-controlled robotics to bring Poe Dameron’s lovable astromech droid to life was so good, it had many wondering if Sphero’s tech was the inspiration behind the droid all along. Then, The Force…
Every kid knows the best way to get almost every item on your Christmas list is to include one outlandish, obscenely-expensive item your parents will never go for. Out of guilt, they’ll happily deliver everything else on your list. But you’re an adult now, with a job and disposable income, so why not finally treat…
Welcome back to Toy Aisle, io9's regular weekly roundup of all the toys you’ll want to blow your paycheck on, instead of buying groceries, paying rent, or other more responsible purchases. This week we’ve got an Imperial entry in Sphero’s line of interactive droids, a cartoon version of Boba Fett, and a bunch of New…
Welcome back to Toy Aisle, io9's regular round up of all the wonderful toys we’ve been pining after lately. This week: Sphero’s latest little robot toy, Thor: Ragnarok’s new look for Thor gets an awesome figure, and we have thoughts about the butt of DC Comics’ Dick Grayson. Let’s get to it!
All the new Last Jedi toys revealed yesterday were mostly based on things we already know are going to be in the new movie, from precious porgs to angry-looking heavy walkers. But one toy in particular actually gave us our first look at the capital ship Snoke calls home.
There has been an awakening, Star Wars fans—one that threatens the structural integrity of your wallet far more than it does the galaxy far, far away. That’s right: it’s Force Friday II, meaning that from 12:01 am tonight, September 1, the very first toys from The Last Jedi are going on sale. Get a look at everything…
Like millions of other kids around the world, after seeing the original trilogy, R2-D2 instantly became my favorite Star Wars character. He seemed like the perfect sidekick, but the real Artoo was from a galaxy far, far away from mine, and the toy versions of the little droid were always lifeless clones of the…
Once known for its quirky remote-controlled robot balls, Sphero parlayed that technology into a massive consumer hit with its Star Wars: The Force Awakens BB-8 toy. As a result, the company has been able to expand beyond the sphere, first with a robotic version of Cars’ Lightning McQueen, and now with an interactive…
I might be the only person at Gizmodo that likes Sphero’s new Cars toy. My co-workers hate the way the robot announces it’s going to sleep, and the long animated process it takes to wake up. They’re also horrified by the very existence of sentient automobiles and tractors that moo. But my colleagues are too caught up…
Sphero’s Force Band, a gesture-based wearable remote that made you feel like an actual Jedi while you controlled its wildly popular BB-8 toy, is now further increasing your ‘mastery’ of The Force with the addition of IFTTT support letting you control other things in your home, including your smartphone, using simple…
Sphero’s Force Band accessory has come a long way since it was first revealed at CES back in January. But now that the design and feature list has been finalized, calling it an accessory doesn’t do the wearable justice. It can do a lot more than just control the Sphero BB-8 toy, even if you don’t have a tiny droid.
Sphero’s remote controlled BB-8 is already the coolest Star Wars toy around. But the company wowed us once again when they first revealed the Force Band that lets you control the little droid not with an app, but with your miiiiind (okay, swanky motion sensing tech). We’ve seen images of the final product, but we just…
Between Android and iOS there are now over four million apps available for mobile devices, so there’s no denying that more and more, programming is becoming a useful skill. You don’t need to head back to school to learn to code, though, because a programmable remote control ball makes the process so much more…
To coincide with the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens on Blu-ray today, Sphero has released an update to its BB-8 app, enabling the tiny toy droid to watch the movie along with you, and to react to what’s happening on screen with sounds and motion.
You played with it for hours on end after it was first released, but by the time The Force Awakens hit theaters months later, you had probably lost interest in your Sphero BB-8. But don’t bury the little droid in a drawer just yet, because a free app will make your BB-8 even more exciting than the day you first opened…
At CES back in January, Sphero gave us an early look at its upcoming wearable that allows Jedi-in-training to control its BB-8, or any of the company’s rolling toys, using Force-like arm gestures and motions. At that point the company was just showing off a prototype, but it’s now released an image of a more finalized…
So how do you make the coolest Star Wars toy ever even cooler? Having finally given everyone an interactive droid they can call their own, later this year Sphero will also be giving Star Wars fans the ability to control BB-8 using the Force—or at least motion-tracked gestures that will make you feel like a Jedi.
Force Friday is finally upon us! Yes, Disney and Lucasfilm have deemed today as the ultimate Star Wars consumer holiday, and unleashed a swathe of new The Force Awakens goodies to empty your wallets on. Want to get a look at the hottest toys out today? Here’s our guide, just in time for you to do your shopping.
If you were lucky enough to find one of Sphero’s wonderful BB-8 toys on Force Friday and are curious how it works, the folks at uBreakiFix were kind enough to hack theirs open to explore its inner workings—so you don’t have to sacrifice yours.
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