Sphero Launches Bolt, While Education Moves to the Foreground – TechCrunch

At first glance, Bolt represents a kind of return to Sphero – at the beginning of Orbotix. The Colorado start-up fell in love with its first Sphero robotic ball, enough for the company to change brands accordingly.

Announced today, the Bolt returns these core technologies and introduces new elements, while doubling the new direction of education. Teaching children has long been an element of Sphero's products, but some difficult decisions and growing difficulties have forced the company to abandon its branded product portfolio and turn entirely to Edu.

The main hardware novelty is a programmable 8×8 LED matrix screen that can be programmed to display words and display data in real time. There is also an ambient light sensor for room brightness programming, a two-hour battery, and an infrared module that allows two bolts to communicate with each other.

The Sphero Edu app included, meanwhile, uses Scratch blocks and JavaScript text to program the robot, creating games and custom designs. The Bolt also works with Apple's Swift Playgrounds program, connecting it to Apple's educational ecosystem. Those who just want, know, have fun can also do it through apps like Sphero Arcade.

"Our main goal is to teach through play," said Adam Wilson, CCO, at TechCrunch. "We will continue to create products that take advantage of this philosophy."

The evolution towards education occurs during a difficult year for the equipment startup. In January, we reported that the company had fired 45 staff members as a result of poor performance of its Disney licensed product portfolio.

The company tells TechCrunch that the licensed products will not be part of the product line is moving forward, although existing products such as BB-8 and R2D2 will continue to be available on store shelves during the holidays.

"We realized that if we devote much more energy to perfection, we would probably get a better return," says Wilson. "Last year and the last few years, we produced four or five products a year. It was hard for our company and hard for all of us. It was too long for everything to work properly, because we are perfectionists. We will focus on a few products and make them spectacular. "