Ollie is an Awesome Rough-and-Tumble Robot

If you’re looking to take play to the next level, you’ll want to check out Ollie, a rugged little robot designed by Sphero than can go just about anywhere and pull cool tricks. Built with a durable polycarbonate shell that protects some advanced tech under the hood, Ollie is light enough to hit speeds of 14 miles per hour and strong enough to take a beating. You control Ollie by connecting an iOS or Android device via Bluetooth, then using the free Ollie app you can pull of sick tricks like flipping, bouncing, spinning, and drifting. And once you add ramps and other obstacles, Ollie becomes a robot daredevil. (Just keep it away from it’s old nemesis, water!)

But hey, you could read about what Ollie can do — or you can watch what Ollie can do:




I had a chance to play around with Ollie on the streets of NYC a few weeks ago. It was pretty rad. It handled the rough sidewalks, running into some people’s marching feet, and getting kicked into a tree like a champ. And even with the rugged terrain, it built up a ton of speed and spun like a maniac. It was a ton of fun to play with. Now I just have to build myself an obstacle course…

Ollie made a big splash at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, and as of right now you can order your own. It costs $99 and is available at gosphero.com. (The first Ollies start shipping September 15.)


Photo courtesy Sphero