Sphero, the Colorado-based connected toy company, has had a successful, conventional run making sphere-shaped, smartphone-controlled robots. But for its next launch, Sphero is taking a different path to retail: a Kickstarter campaign.
Adam Wilson, co-founder and chief creative officer, tells The Verge his company opted to crowdfund its new bot, called RVR, in order to “get feedback and make sure we’re building the thing that people want.” RVR is designed for kids and adults. Unlike prior robots, this one can accept peripheral accessories through its universal expansion port, so that means devices like a Raspberry Pi, webcam, Arduino microcontrollers, external battery, or whatever else users want to connect can be used for coding...
