Stuff - UK (2020-01)

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TESTED SPHERO RVR

GOOD

MEH

EVIL

Easy to

operate

Handles

all terrain

Sensitive

steering

Packed with

features

App is a bit

crowded

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An app-controlled all-terrain vehicle for

seasoned coders and robo-newbies alike?

Sphero, you have our attention...

Tech toy maker Sphero is known

for the Bolt, a little app-controlled

ball you drive with your phone.

It’s cute. Twee, even. Then there

are the highly original Specdrums

that can turn a banana into a

percussion instrument. It’s such

a fun company that, if we were

classmates, we’d invite them

round for tea and japes.

But its latest product might be

enough for parents to impose a

ban, because the RVR is basically

a go-anywhere monster truck

you programme yourself... and

that sounds like trouble.

It’s similar to the Sphero Ollie

(a racing robot that can handle

the great outdoors) but on

steroids. It’s bigger, faster and

brasher, but more sophisticated

too – because as well as taking

coding instructions from the app

on your smartphone, it can take

its orders from a Raspberry Pi or

BBC micro:bit. All of which means

there are far more features to

play with than meets the eye.

Time to hit the dirt...

£260 / stuff.tv/SpheroRVR

Don’t dream it’s rover

Bridge rover troubled water

The chassis (2) is solid and clearly

able to withstand a knock or two.

Playing fields on a muddy morning

leave us surprised with how well

it performs: grass churned up

from months of Sunday league

football poses no trouble, and

nor do big divots. It even powers

through the deepest puddles.

(Just like) starting rover

Setup is simple – and you don’t

need to be a coding wonderkid

to start using it, because it’s also

a simple RC car fresh from the

box. Sensitive steering means

handling takes some getting

used to, so we’d advise starting

with wide-open spaces to avoid

ploughing into Mum’s flowerbed.

Fool if you think it’s rover

The stereotype of the spindly

little coding bot? The RVR blows

that out of the water. And then

runs it over. Sphero calls this

‘the go-anywhere, do-anything

programmable robot’, and it’s not

kidding. It rolls on all-terrain tank

treads (1), which make a satisfying

whirring noise as they turn.

Bluetooth

can drop out