Ollie is the newest robot that wants to become part of your household, a cylinder-shaped bot that can do tricks and move at speeds of up to 14 miles an hour.
Slated to hit stores on Sept. 15, the $100 stunt robot is about the size of a soup can and works through a smartphone app available for iOS or Android, said a Wall Street Journal review.
Ollie comes from Sphero, the company that introduced the round Sphero robot in 2011. Similar to the original Sphero bot, Ollie will develop over time for better performance and a wider variety of tricks and features, according to Sphero. The new bot is mostly white and measures 4.5 by 3.25 inches.
A Mashable review described the tube-shaped robot as "a little difficult to control" due to a combination of its speed and the simple control pad used to direct it.
"The robot moves fast (it can go up to 14 miles per hour) and with nothing more than a circle to control it, it's often a struggle to get Ollie to go where you want it to," Mashable's Lance Ulanoff described. "I can't tell you how many times I ended up against a wall and, while simply sliding my thumb backward should have moved it away from the wall, it flipped around and headed back to the wall again."
Compared with Sphero, Ollie moves about twice as fast, all while performing jumps and other tricks, and is "much easier to drive," TechCrunch reported. Ollie is additionally even more hackable and customizable than Sphero, allowing for a wider range of options in both its software and hardware.
Special wheel covers are available for different types of driving such as racing or off-road driving, and Sphero offers jump ramps and other accessories developed specifically for Ollie.
Ollie has solid battery life that lasts about an hour as well as an impressive remote control range allowing it to be directed from around 100 feet away, according to the Journal review.
See Now: OnePlus 6: How Different Will It Be From OnePlus 5?
