WHAT TECH JOB WILL YOU HAVE?

WHAT GEEK WILL YOU MARRY?

WHAT SPHERO APP WILL YOU PLAY?

WHAT TYPE OF BACON WILL YOU EAT?

WHAT CAT WILL YOU OWN?

Check us out on Vine @GoSphero to see behind-the-scenes footage from around our office and more! And don’t forget to tag your own videos with #Sphero. We can’t wait to see what six-second goodness you come up with.

For this tutorial we will show you how install Google Sky (also known as stardroid) without rooting your Glass or swapping roms. This is the same basic procedure you would go through to manually load an app on an Android phone, but since Google Glass has a limited amount of input, the specific app you install matters. Google Sky is perfect! It doesn’t require any user input other than the accelerometer and gyroscopic sensor data, but it will show you an amazing amount of information when looking at the night sky.

Before we begin it is important that you already have the Android SDK, most importantly you need ADB (android debug bridge). You also need to be somewhat familiar with opening a new terminal window. We used Mac 10.8+, but these same basic directions will work for Linux and might need a little modification for Windows. We also assume you download files to your home Download directory, but you can change this as needed. (~/Downloads)

Download and Install the Android SDK (http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html). We find it helpful to have adb in your PATH so you can call it from anywhere (you may want to add it to your .bashrc or whatever you are using).

First things first, Put your Glass in “Debug Mode” in the settings on the Glass itself. Locate the device info and scroll right to turn Debug Mode on. Then plug your Glass into your computer using the USB micro cable.

Now grab a version of Google Sky that you want to install (this is the same for any Android .apk file).

Simply load the .apk file onto the Glass with adb.

After the .apk is loaded onto Glass you now need to use adb shell to run it. The trick here is that you need to figure out what Activity to run. You can use the adb command dumpsys to discover a plethora of information about your Glass. You can figure out the main activity for the .apk with a little help from grep, and since it was the last thing loaded we can also narrow this information down with a tail command.

This might take some time depending on your system, but it will eventually return something similar to this:

intent={act=android.intent.action.MAIN flg=0×10000000 cmp=com.google.android.stardroid/.activities.SplashScreenActivity}
android.intent.action.MAIN:

You now have the right information to start the app on Glass. We use the am command to start the app on Glass. Simply reformat the Activity call to follow the same format as the stardroid example call below:

At this point tap your Glass on and the app should be running. You will need to “down swipe” on your glass to cancel the agreement window. If you see the app running, disconnect, go outside, and check this out at nighttime! Warning: you may feel like a terminator with some kind of super power.

Note: this is not part of the Official Glass Mirror API that is displayed on your timeline and running apps full time like this is a drain on the battery, which is not in Google’s application design guidelines. It merely demonstrates how to sideload an app on Glass in your terminal without voiding your warranty.

Why we think this is awesome:

Some people will say that you can do this exact same thing with your smartphone, and we agree you can. But what fascinates us about this is a constant stream of information about our world, in real time, with little or no effort on our part. We can imagine apps like Google Googles, and other augmented reality apps and games becoming extremely valid in a world where they were just neat to show off on a phone. Nobody holds their phone up looking through the camera as they walk around – it’s just hard to do.

This all excites us when we relate it back to what we are doing at Orbotix. Augmented reality is part of our DNA, as Sphero is the perfect moving, trackable robot that allows nearly any 3D digital experience to be seamlessly stitched into our real world with little effort from the user. You see a 3D digital character like Sharky the Beaver magically appear on your living room floor and you can control it around your house.

We hope for this same magical experience from Google Glass as it is fully developed. It should naturally pop up information about the things around us based on our Google Now history and what I am looking at. If I have to manually tell it to “scan” a bar code, it’s doing it wrong. For now, this is the closest we have ever felt to being in a science fiction movie. Google Glass is an incredible step toward an amazing future and we’re looking forward to being a part of it.

This summer, make Sphero your go-to gadget. Not only is Sphero waterproof, sand proof, and shock proof ­– it’s the only appcessory that will leave you wishing your smartphone could keep up (in case you really want a waterproof smartphone, check these out). From the beach to the bonfire, this robot is 100% summer compatible. See how it’s done in the video below!

Send us your photos on Facebook or Twitter for the chance to be featured, and check out Instructables to see fun DIY projects like how to make your Sphero swim like Phelps. On your mark, get set, SUMMER!

Google I/O is one of the conferences the Sphero team looks forward to attending and exhibiting every year. This year was no different. Monday kicked things off with us showing Sphero at the Google campus in Mountain View with Google [X] employees. Tuesday night we had an interactive photo-booth where attendees could take picture with the Android character. We got over 300 pictures!

A notable highlight from the trip was giving the co-founder of Android, Rich Miner (pictured above) his very own custom Sphero. We’re big fans of what he helped create. Also Steve Aoki had something to say about Sphero.

We had a great time. See you next year, Google!

May is Military Appreciation Month, and here at Orbotix we wanted to find our own special way to say thank you to all the brave men, women and families for the sacrifices they make in serving our nation.

In honor of the month long celebration, we decided to give what we know best to our military – fun and entertainment! First, we are donating Spheros and mobile devices to the USO. The USO is an incredible organization with a long history of bringing entertainment to our troops. We’re glad that Sphero now joins the ranks of the likes of Bob Hope, Marilyn Monroe, John Wayne, Jay Leno, Toby Keith, Ben Stiller and many others.

Second, we are offering a special Sphero discount to all military members and their families for $99 via TroopSwap. TroopSwap offers special discounts for service members, veterans and dependents. Founded by veterans, TroopSwap is dedicated to working with reputable, military-friendly businesses to offer special deals and everyday discounts. Check out their site for more information and to learn how you can get involved.

Thank you to our military and their families, from Sphero and the Orbotix team!

1. Charlie’s Sphero Egg Trick: It’s not news that pranking your friends with Sphero is a blast. But putting Sphero inside an edible Easter egg? A whole new level of surprise!

2. Alex’s Rube Goldberg Machine: Easily our most time consuming hack, Alex turned his bedroom into the ultimate obstacle course for Sphero. Watch to find out what you can do with a little elbow grease and some dominoes.

3. Cole’s Homemade Stylus Pen: Sometimes, all you need to be an engineer is a sponge and a paper clip. Cole showed us how it’s done with a homemade stylus pen and Sphero.

4. Andrico’s Javascript Hack: We’re glad this hack isn’t permanent. Watch as Andrico changes our website with only a few keystrokes. Good thing he’s a true fan!

5. Rose Rolls’ Hardware Hack: This class went above and beyond. They are the first engineers to take advantage of Sphero’s open source hardware to build an autonomous, following Sphero. Watch the video to see how it works, and learn how impressive the hack really is.

Just because this contest has come to a close doesn’t mean the hacking ends here. Send us your creations for a chance to be featured, and stay posted on our Facebook page and Twitter for what we come up with next. You never know – it just might be a lawn mower controlled ceiling fan.

Last month, we launched a 3-foot tall version of Sphero – the Peacekeeper Edition. Our announcement coincided with April Fools’ Day, featuring an Indiegogo page where fans could pledge as much as $10,000 to purchase their own 150-pound Sphero. Almost everyone thought the Peacekeeper was a joke – but the joke was that it’s real. Every shot in the video (see below) was actually filmed by us, including the lions. As it turns out, robotic balls are great for cats of all sizes. But the question remains. How did we manage to make a functioning Sphero over 2500x the size of the original? Here’s how.

It all starts with the shell. Unexpected as it seems, one of the hardest things about making a robot ball is finding a shell that is rigid and round. We knew that unless we could find a shell that would work, the entire idea would never become a reality. About six months ago, we found a company in California that makes plastic domes for museum displays, submersible vehicles, point of sale displays and the like. As it turns out, if you buy two domes you have a shell. We bought 6 halves and began to experiment.

Once we had the shells we had to solve two problems; stabilizing the flexibility of the shell, and securing the two halves. The flexibility issue was solved by getting a thicker shell and coating it with a popular truck-bed liner (rugged, we know). To join the two halves, we used simple hinges found at our local hardware store. Joining the halves with hinges also helped with rigidity and durability for the lions.

The internal mechanism is literally just a scaled up Sphero. We made the robot’s frame from aluminum joinery. The bottom of the mechanism needed to be heavy (just like with your Sphero), so we used two marine grade batteries.  To put things in perspective, the motors could easily power an electric wheelchair.

Instead of a smartphone, we hooked up a RC controller with a secondary kill switch to make sure that if things got crazy we could stop the giant ball from rolling into traffic – or worse. The controller is coupled to a Sphero circuit board. Just like the real Sphero, the circuit board provides the drive mechanism with a sense of orientation and commands the motors to stabilize the robot. It also allows for complete programmability. While we could have used Bluetooth, the Peacekeeper moves so fast that it gets out of range rather quickly. As a result, we left it with transmit functions for the RC controller for the time being.

Charging is not by induction. That would be a huge power draw, and could take days. Right now, the user needs to disassemble the Peacekeeper’s shell and simply plug in the charger built into the ball. It takes a bit of work and you need help to lift off the shell, but the batteries last for a long time. Enough for everything from rolling over a fruit stand to playing with lions.

In retrospect, the design is overkill. The motors could power an 8-foot diameter ball and the batteries are incredibly expensive. But for the first prototype and functioning robot, it was all worth it.

As our Indiegogo campaign comes to a close, we actually have one Peacekeeper customer (who happens to be our board member). We’re going to make him a refined version of the Peacekeeper that won’t weigh as much, and won’t be covered in mud. We’ll post the delivery here when it is finished – stay tuned. Rumor has it, Feld’s coworkers do not want the ball in their office.  They fear the Peacekeeper may not be suitable for a peaceful work environment.

For safety, for peace, for fun – Peacekeeper by Orbotix.

For questions concerning fulfillment on funding, contact whitney@orbotix.com.

Here at Orbotix, we love to support entrepreneurs like ourselves. This includes everyone from fellow makers and roboticists to businessmen and women making their mark in the retail world. Orbotix and Fat Brain Toys have recently teamed up to sell Sphero, and partnerships like these get to the heart of what we’re all about.

What’s the big deal? Well, Fat Brain founders, Mark & Karen Olson, have created a very special online and retail experience for their customers. They’ve worked hard to both make and curate the very best toys and pair them with incredible product knowledge and service. As a start up founded in a basement, Fat Brain Toys is successfully accomplishing what all family-owned, private businesses strive for – a thriving business and fiercely loyal customers. Cheers to you, Fat Brain Toys! Find Sphero online and check out their other awesome products to see just what we mean.

Prepare to add another explorer to the history books. With fans like you at the controls, Sphero has officially rolled around the entire circumference of the Earth! Since day one, we’ve been tracking his movements on Spheroverse and keeping an eye on your stats (like collisions and color changes). For a robot that fits in the palm of your hand, we think rolling the Earth’s 24,901 mile circumference is a milestone worth celebrating.

Circumnavigating the globe isn’t the first momentous achievement we’ve marked down in the Orbotix history books. Since his release in December 2011, Sphero has memorably rolled in a straight line, launched the first augmented reality app of its kind, and grown into a 150lb behemoth that played with a pride of lions. We are extremely proud parents, but we couldn’t have done it without all of you. Get the stats below on your combined Sphero accomplishments to date.

Worldwide Sphero Statistics to Date
Rolled the length of 950 marathons or 12.45 Oregon Trails
Summited Mt. Everest 4527 times
Swam to the deepest part of the ocean 3557 times
Fallen from the stratosphere 1037 times
Swam the length of 25% of all swimming pools in the USA
Circumnavigated the moon 4 times
Swam the length of the Nile over 6 times
Gone over Niagara Falls 825,000 times
Fallen from the tallest building in the world over 50,000 times

Sphero has gone great distances on Earth, but he’s not done yet. With only 213,954 more miles to cover, Sphero’s just getting warmed up for a journey to the moon. Drivers, take your mark. Get set – GO!

Calling all developers! Are you cool with having conferences in a Winnebago? Would you like to get professional house cleaning twice a month? Are you a fan of string cheese? If you answered, “Yes,” to any of these questions, then get your résumés ready, because here is a list of the Top 10 Best Places for Developers to Work.

10. Roku – If you watch TV, listen up. This consumer electronics company has been rocking it in Internet video streaming for a while now. So far they’ve streamed 1 billion hours of TV, music, and games, and even sold one Roku player every second on Black Friday last year. Upgrade your boob tube experience at a Roku.

9. Evernote – This app-based company allows users to capture anything and access it anywhere. They also offers perks like professional house cleaning twice a month to all employees. That’s right, if you are a horrible house cleaner and an app fanatic, Evernote is the company for you!

8. GitHub – GitHub is a stellar Web-based hosting service for software development projects that knows how to celebrate. When something big happens at GitHub, like releasing improvements to code search, GitHubbers from around the world cheers together. This worldwide toast is individually photographed by each GitHubber and turned into an animated GIF. Need we say more?

7. Rovio – Angry Birds. You know you’ve played it, and you know you love it. Besides being the company that created the infamous bird brand, Rovio boasts some other perks. Rather than simply e-mailing your opinion on the direction the company should head in the future, Rovio holds team building parties where employees make costumes out of old junk to portray where they think the company should head next. Party on!

6. The Coca-Cola Company – Ever heard of it? If you haven’t been living on a deserted island, then you know the notorious soft drink company. Along with contributing to the development of delicious refreshments, you could be a part of the brand that shaped the image of Santa Claus. Yes, Coca-Cola has not only formed the world’s view of beverages, but also of the jolly man who brings you gifts every holiday season.

5. Uber – Uber is uber cool. Integrating technology with cab service is their niche, but so are ping pong tournaments and string cheese. That means you’ll never go hungry while getting your game on during lunch breaks. Uber claims to have an unlimited amount of the stringy stuff ready for their employees.

4. Apple – Apple’s products continue to be clean and straightforward, so you wouldn’t expect any tomfoolery at work. Little did you know, the company admires freedom and flexibility so much so that Apple managers have reportedly shown up barefoot to meetings and had a masseuse on hand during the iPhone 4 launch. Time for a pedicure, developers!

3. Google – The star of the search engine, Google, likes to keep projects under the radar, but they are no noobs to a good time. At their campaign headquarters for Google Fiber, they let visitors check out how fast their fiber-optic Internet was while hosting movie nights and handing out Halloween candy for the kids. If you’re a geek with a sweet tooth, you might want to work here.

2. Nike – The victors of wearable technology have an interesting place for meetings, such as a Winnebago. Their $750 Craigslist purchase sits in what they call the “Innovation Kitchen” where employees hold conferences. Don’t mind discussing your new developments in a motorhome? Then Nike means victory for you!

1. Orbotix – You didn’t see that coming, did you? While we might be biased, here are our top reasons we made the list. Every week, we give away a chicken foot and an F-Bomb for the best and dumbest things accomplished by someone on the team. Fridays we hack anything and everything we can get our hands on. Our community is tight knit and supportive, and likes a good happy hour (plus our fridge is permanently stocked for late nights at the office). We’re also known for some killer events, like last year’s Google I/O. And every day at Orbotix, we play with balls. Check out available opportunities to join our team today and tell your friends.