Orbotix is an unconventional developer with a project we posted about a while ago. Its mission is to bring smartphone controlled, open devices to market. The first of these is Sphero, a robotic ball that responds to inputs from an iPhone or iPod Touch via Bluetooth and an device-specific app.
It’ll be about six months before Sphero is ready for store shelves, but the lack of polish didn’t stop Orbotix from taking their balls on the road to CES in Las Vegas where, of course, Mac Rumors got their hands on them.
The demonstration, which took place in a mini-arena of sorts, yielded some neat pieces of intel about Sphero. Most relevant to us is the fact that Orbotix wants to release the API to App Store creators, allowing anyone with the knowhow to sculpt games around the device.
At the event, Orbotix suggested soccer or bowling games could be made, which yeah, I totally could see that happening if the device took off. But will it take off? I don’t know. I lost my fortuneteller license in a fire. But I do know that people like crazy little devices that can move around.
Orbotix hopes to launch Sphero in “late 2011” for under one hundred bones — and hopefully well under $100 if it hopes that more than 12 people will take a look at it.
[via Mac Rumors]
