'Sphero Rover' Designed To Help Students Learn How To Use Robots
BOULDER, Colo. (CBS4)- A Boulder company is hoping to help kids dive deeper into programing and robotics with the release of a new device. Sphero may sound familiar because it's the company behind BB-8 in Star Wars.
"Teaching our kids how to use technology, getting them interested in just the ability to control robots from a device like a smart phone, I think that's huge," said Sphero founder Adam Wilson.
Earlier this week Sphero launched a new device on Kickstarter. RVR will be available in the fall but thousands of people are eagerly awaiting its arrival and already working on new platforms.
"It's definitely going to be going into schools where teachers can use these little plates and each student can have their own project on a plate and then snap that onto the robot and drive away and kind of explore," Wilson said.
The RVR is packed with sensors and a long-lasting battery. Developer plates on the top of the machine allow for it to be customized to do anything.
Wilson says the biggest barrier for kids getting involved in robots, is the actual movement. With RVR the first steps are skipped allowing for more innovation.
"The best part about robotics is that high level thinking," He said. "There's something inherently amazing on moving something in the real world. Even as professional engineers, to do this all day, when it picks the can up we get excited too."