Sphero

Pay Misty for me

I’ve met with Misty’s founders a number of times over the years, often in hotel suites at CES where the company was showing off their humanoid robot’s latest capability. The firm started life in

Social robotics company Furhat buys Sphero spin-out company Misty Robotics

Misty has had a hell of a journey of it. After raising $11.5 million from Foundry and Venrock, then crowdfunding its personal robot, the company hit a series of challenges. Today, Swedish social robot

Gift Guide: 20+ STEM toy gift ideas for aspiring young builders

For this year's STEM toy gift guide we've split out our recommendations by age for easier navigation.

Gift Guide: 22 STEM toy gift ideas for every little builder

In 2020, parents and guardians are super spoilt for choice in the STEM toys gift department — which is great news in the midst of a pandemic that’s supercharging homeschooling needs. The c

Sphero appoints new CEO, spins off robotics startup for first responders

Sphero just announced that it has spun off another company. Once again, the new startup has a decidedly different focus from its parent company’s core of education-focused products. While still a ro

Sphero’s STEM robotics kit goes on sale

Following a crowdfunding campaign that raised an impressive $1 million earlier this year, Sphero’s STEM/STEAM kit RVR is now on sale. Announced back in February as part of the Colorado company’s f

Daily Crunch: Overstock CEO resigns

The Daily Crunch is TechCrunch’s roundup of our biggest and most important stories. If you’d like to get this delivered to your inbox every day at around 9am Pacific, you can subscribe her

Sphero has acquired littleBits

Sphero and littleBits have long been kindred spirits in the world of entertaining STEM toys, and soon they’ll be one and the same. Sphero this morning announced plans to buy the New York-based elect

Can robots find a home in the classroom?

With the demise of some robot makers, it’s fair to wonder if there will be a time when robots have a real place in our lives. But some robots are finding a home in a counterintuitive place: schools.

Sphero hits Kickstarter with new RVR robotics platform

Last year, Sphero stepped away from the flashiness of Disney IP, opting instead to focus on education. It was a pragmatic business decision, above all. The draw of licensing brands like Star Wars, Mar

Techstars will build and launch startups with new venture studio

Techstars is announcing Techstars Studio, its latest attempt to bring corporations closer to the startup ecosystem.

Sphero’s Specdrums music kit ships January 15

Over the summer, Sphero acquired Colorado-educational music startup, Specdrums. The news arrived at a transitional time for the company, which was undergoing substantial growing pains as its line of l

Sphero is finished making Star Wars products

Sphero’s on-going deals are about more than just priming the pump for the holidays. The Colorado robotic toy startup is also in the process of cleaning out inventory of what are now marked “legacy

Facebook sends Sphero robots so classrooms can apply coding education

Program a robotic toy to move and you could be hooked on coding for life. That’s the idea behind Facebook’s newest educational initiative called CodeFWD. It provides online coding tutorial

12 years in, Techstars doubles down on corporate relationships

The goal of any accelerator is to back startups that are reaching exponential growth. Sometimes, though, the accelerator itself hits that inflection point. Techstars, which was founded in 2006, has ex

Sphero launches Bolt, as education moves front and center

On the face of it, Bolt represents a kind of return to Sphero — back to the early days of Orbotix. The Colorado startup had a bonafide hit on its hands with its first Sphero robotic ball, enough so

Sphero acquires a music education startup

It’s hard to say precisely how Sphero’s pivot to education is going in these early stages, but it recently got an infusion of funding and is already out acquiring new startups. The BB-8 maker anno

Sphero raises $12M as it focuses on education

This year has been a rough one for Sphero. The Colorado-based toy robotics startup kicked off the year with dozens of layoffs, a result of tepid interest in its line of Disney-branded consumer product

Sphero’s CEO discusses the company’s shift from Star Wars to schools

If hardware is hard, robotics are next to impossible. Even so, Sphero managed an impressive feat over its first five years, growing from a small startup with a glowing, smartphone-controlled ball into

Sphero lays off dozens as it shifts focus to education

Sphero was ready to conquer the world last year. The company quintupled its product release schedule, flying high with the help of a Disney licensing deal that gave the world several Star Wars droids
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