Start-up plays the market with smart ball

Orbotix, a United States-based company co-founded by robotics experts Ian Bernstein and Adam Wilson, may be changing the face of the US$84 billion global toy industry by reinventing the ball.

The company's much-acclaimed Sphero, the world's first mobile application-controlled robotic ball and game system, has raised the bar in the industry for the use of artificial intelligence in so-called smart digital toys since it was first introduced in late 2011.

"The first toy most everyone had growing up was a ball. There is something about the shape. With Sphero, you interact in a new way," Wilson, the chief software architect at Orbotix, told the South China Morning Post during a visit to Hong Kong.

With more than 25 apps available on Apple's iOS and Google's Android mobile platforms, Sphero has been mostly used in multiplayer racing games in which users control the devices with their smartphones or media tablets. Powered by induction charging, Sphero glows in many colours and is waterproof.

The spherical robot, about the size of a standard tennis ball, can also be used as a controller for on-screen video game play and so-called augmented reality games. Wilson said savvy primary-school children have also used Sphero to learn basic programming.

"The ball is like a universal smart device on which we built all of the technology that we wanted," Wilson said. "Most of the smarts are in the ball. The ball has communications with the app, but it is in full control.

"So if the ball thinks there is something going on, it won't listen to the app. It will do what it needs to do, like get in the right position for you in a game. That's very unique for a toy."

With the first iteration of the device sold out, Orbotix last year unveiled its re-engineered Sphero 2.0, which has improved artificial intelligence capabilities and can travel at speeds of up to 2.13 metres per second in a racing game.