Introducing the sphero

Mariselle Stofberg
Daniella Hoffmann

A Sphero is a robotic ball which you can control with programming language. You can control it with any Android, iOS, any Apple device, computing devices especially Lenix which is an open source. The Sphero uses internal rechargeable batteries which charges about 30-40 minutes and after being fully charged you will have about 20-25 minutes of play time. You can have it do all kinds of interesting things like negotiating a maze through programming.

Vernon Seward, originally from the US, born and raised in Baltimore but came to Swakopmund from Florida. He is a Peace Corps volunteer from the US working for Rossing Foundation and he is also an economic developer which means he helps small businesses to develop. Mr. Seward was the first person to introduce the sphero ball to our teachers. What got him interested was he wanted to inspire his 8-year-old grandson to get into programming. He figured it would be a great idea to have a little robotic ball to play around with the cats but after doing some research on the Sphero, he learnt that it’s a lot more than just a toy but it's a robot and it does have a very easy to learn programming language behind it.

The project that he is starting is an association called Building Culture Bridges. Building Culture Bridges allows Namibian learners to connect via video teleconference with American learners and so they wanted to expand the program in order to bring some more interest into the program. They wanted to involve Universities and small businesses but instead they thought of programming where they would have a competition with a maze and see how fast the Sphero can negotiate the maze say from American kids and Namibian kids to see how fast each country negotiates programmable with Sphero.

Lastly, you can buy it from Amazon or any toy shop. It is fairly easy to find and fairly easy to get hold of.