Sphero Mini robo-ball offers games and coding for kids

Sphero has made some fab robots and tech-toys for children, from its original ball-shaped robot to fully-licensed Star Wars droids. They haven’t been cheap though: parents on a tight budget have looked on with envy, I suspect.

Sphero’s new thing may open the company’s technology up to more children though. It’s called the Sphero Mini, and it’s pitched as “the world’s smallest app-enabled robotic ball” – not that there are many app-enabled robot balls to win that contest with beyond the company’s own!

It looks like a pool ball, and you can ‘drive’ it around the floor or table using its companion app, with a built-in gyroscope, accelerometer and LED lights all built in to the ball. It can also be used as a controller for games via that app, while children will also soon be able to program it using the JavaScript language, via the separate Sphero Edu app.

The important thing here is the price: Sphero Mini will cost £50 (that’s $50 in the US — trans-Atlantic parity for once on a gadget!) which makes it one of the more cheaper robo-toys that teach kids to code.