Sphero's R2-D2: Under the Dome (Part II)

Updated 28 January 2018

#BrandManagement  •  #ThoughtLeadership  •  #UserExperience  •  #STEM/STEAM  •  #Sphero  •  #StarWars  •  #ProductOwnership

R2-Q5 (a Best Buy exclusive)

Droid Life

A lot has changed since Sphero's BB-8 first rolled out (pun intended) in 2015.

First of all, there's a new app for the growing line of droids (currently there are four, including R2-Q5, a Best Buy-exclusive Imperial black derivative of the R2-D2 form factor). This app facilitates the play value of the droids, supporting things such as real-time motion control; pre-programmed movements and sounds; movie watch parties; and patrol functions. But actual coding and programming is done outside the Sphero Droids app. For this, there's Sphero's Edu app, which allows for custom coding of the droids' activities in a graphically-friendly format, without the need to actually know a coding language.

There's also the Force Band and a new Droid Trainer charging dock that facilitates the hologram mode for BB-8 and BB-9E. This latter component apparently replaces holographic messaging, a concept that was cool, but needed more work. More about that later.

And, specifically with the R2 units, the beeps and whirls come directly from the droid's body, not the app, which was a leading complaint upon BB-8's release.

Perhaps most importantly, these are "smart" toys. They evolve and gain new skills, just like Amazon's Alexa and Echo devices, via app updates and firmware updates downloaded from a galaxy far, far away — or wherever the server's located, most likely not that far away. This ability to learn new — free — skills can potentially go on for years after the initial hardware purchase. For example, at launch, R2 wasn't yet compatible with Sphero's Edu app or Force Band, but it is now.

Full STEAM Ahead

Now programmable with Apple's Swift Playgrounds (exclusively on iPad) as well as Sphero's Edu app, R2 offers a lot more dynamic programming and interaction options. It's not only more fun, it's also a leap ahead in terms of educational value. Particularly while using Swift, R2 smoothly transitions from STEM to full-on STEAM (throw Arts into the mix) by blending coding with storytelling; as a result, it effectively captures the essence of droid life in that galaxy far, far away.

Seems to me Sphero's biggest challenge is to get the general public to understand there's more to their balls and droids than making them beep and roam around on a floor. The marketing of their Star Wars line — including the packaging — focuses on the play aspects and the fun of the Star Wars environment, including the theme music, but it steers clear of the powerful educational prospects through the droids' programmability. It's quite the willful exclusion, and rather inexplicable.

This section of the R2-D2 page on Sphero.com promotes the Droids app,
but makes no mention of Sphero Edu or Swift Playgrounds.

Maybe Sphero's finally starting to see the light, though; a link to the Edu app was recently added in the Droids app. But that's a tiny step.

The Code Awakens

This site — mattopia.com — is hand-coded by yours truly — and it has been for nearly 18 years. I started out knowing nothing about web development and taught myself how to do it. I needed this playground — this site — as a safe zone to learn, break things and figure out how things work, hands-on.

I'm in good company. The four members of U2 taught themselves how to play instruments (and sing). Bruce Springsteen learned the guitar on his own. And I heard on the news recently self-instruction is still the most common way for people to learn how to code websites, apps and other programs. Certainly it's not an ideal arrangement for the mass production of coders needed to keep up with demand and ever-advancing technologies (which is synonymous with ever-advancing opportunities). But, nonetheless, given the abundance of relatively low-cost technology options out providing entry into the field, there's almost no excuse not to learn. It can be self-taught and tools (not toys) like R2-D2 are terrific gateways to a larger world (to paraphrase Obi-Wan Kenobi).

For R2, that leads to the coolest step forward: Sphero's R2 units can now be programmed with the aforementioned iPad Swift Playgrounds app, which was introduced in June 2016. Take a look at this beautiful screenshot from Swift Playgrounds. It's not supposed to be intimidating; it's exciting to see math put into a context of coding and — digging deeper — into the context of the Star Wars universe.

Okay... Well... Maybe that is a little off-putting for some.

Instead, let's shuffle over to the R2-D2 Swift Playground. It covers similar ground, in a much different fashion.

And we can start making R2 come to life, just like in the movies.

Boom.

R2-D2 quickly turns into a weapon of mass instruction. From R2, it's only a matter of time before other considerations come into focus: hot stuff like Bluetooth communication tools, asynchronous communication concepts and sundry other programming options, such as macros, APIs, SKs, OrbBasic and Oval (a flavor of C).

For those interested in a drag-and-drop programming experience, the Sphero Edu app fits the bill nicely.

A large assortment of motions, actions, sounds, etc., can be selected from categories such as Movement (including R2-specific options), Sensors and Comparators. Even the color of the front and back PSI LEDs can be selected either from a complete color wheel or by specific RGB codes. And the brightness of the holo projector and logic circuits is under the developer's control.

And it's also cool to monitor real-time feedback on things such as the gyroscope and accelerometer.

What's hot is the ability to view the drag-and-drop blocks as javascript.

Topping it all off, there's also a whole community in which would-be developers can participate, with downloaded programs available from Sphero and the general public. Yep. You can create a Sphero ball or droid program or video and share it with the world.

With the growing line-up of droids, Sphero is also enhancing their abilities, including a recent update that allows the droids to interact — with either humans or other droids — autonomously and independent of the Droids app. Those of us alive on the planet today can enjoy the fun of all this relatively stress-free. The whole Terminator end-game of this rapidly-advancing technology is still several generations down the road.

Hopefully.

About R2-Q5

The R2-Q5 variant of R2-D2, available exclusively at Best Buy, is a pleasant surprise. In addition to the obvious difference of its black-and-bronze shell, the droid also sports a modified light color palette and a wholly different collection of sound effects. There are also unique pre-programmed actions, including a really spiffy one that has R2-Q5 advance, freak out, then spin around and zoom in the other direction.

But there's one glaring problem that also makes it a strange and unnecessarily derivative offering (even after a 50% price cut). And this particular problems stems from sloppy product management, in my view. R2-Q5 isn't compatible with Swift Playgrounds, at least not right now.

I have my suspicions and chief among them is how the droid is identified by the app. R2-D2 is identified with a code that has a "D2" prefix. However, my R2-Q5 is identified with a prefix of "Q5." I'm thinking the Playgrounds app needs to be updated to accommodate both "D2" and "Q5" — it's a much easier solution than going back to what should've been done in the first place: The prefix should be "R2" since all R2 units should have fairly similar skills. Similarly, all BB units have the same core skills (and, by the way, BB-8's prefix is "BB" — I'm assuming BB-9E also carries a "BB" prefix in its ID, but I could be wrong).

Anyway, no doubt it's a silly human oversight. After all, we're talking about two premium R2 units, not some budget-minded R5 stinker like R5-D4.

A selection of R2-Q5's pre-coded motions and responses

Sphero's Detached STEAM Engine

Here's an unfortunate chapter in the R2-Q5 saga.

After managing to confirm while tinkering around that, yes, R2-Q5 is identified with a "Q5" prefix, I entered the following ticket with Sphero support:

And I got the response I didn't want, but expected:

So I entered a ticket directly with Apple on 22 January 2018. May the Force be with me.

Then I got this follow-up from Sphero:

Here's the bottom line: The R2-D2 Swift Playgrounds extension didn't happen in a vacuum at spaceship Apple. It had to be a coordinated effort with Sphero, at least at a bare bones level of cooperation.

For Sphero to introduce R2-Q5 and give no consideration to the larger ecosystem — the third-party development apps which make this movement so exciting — is purely slop product management and a display of complete indifference to truly being a "Force" behind STEAM.

Sphero's Star Wars line is pretty spectacular. I'd hate to see them lose their advantage by divesting from their core STEAM interests.

A Disturbance in the Force

How ironic. After adding R2-Q5 to this sprawling essay, I read an article in the Denver Post today (22 January 2018) that Sphero's laid off around 25% of its workforce (45 of 170) following poor holiday sales. That also explains all those price cuts out there.

Reports indicate Sphero's going to refocus on their educational efforts. As I read it, they're missing the bigger picture. Stretching into non-programmables like Spider-Man and Lightning McQueen was a questionable move, but Sphero shouldn't steer away from commercial opportunities altogether. Sphero, in short, needs to work smarter.

My advice: Stick with the powerful, multi-faceted stuff and put the Star Wars line under better management, one that actually cares about and has a passion for the possibilities the line possesses. It is a STEAM line. McQueen? Spidey? Not without programmability.

And, for the love of Pete, promote the droids' programmability and educational value instead of treating them like mere toys. Opportunity: Blown.

Granted, this is my take from the outside looking in. I don't know what the pressures are as a Disney licensee, and perhaps those same pressures contributed to UBTECH's Stormtrooper misfire (which, in turn, sets Sphero's efforts apart based on sheer quality alone). But, given all the above notes and thoughts and interactions, it appears as though Sphero's business strategy lacks imagination. That's my feedback as a disappointed fan who wants to see this company succeed beyond all expectations.

Smart Toys... What About the People?

I'll never be able to forget (as much as I'd like to) checking out a review for a Blu-ray of a well-regarded movie on Amazon. The movie was given one star. Why? Because the individual didn't have a Blu-ray player. And, since he needed the standard DVD instead of the Blu-ray, this person took the time to post a one-star rating on Amazon after divulging this fact: He bought the wrong item.

I've spotted similarly uninformed and unhelpful comments in reviews posted on Amazon regarding some of Sphero's products. A person can't get Lightning McQueen to work. Somebody was disappointed because they didn't realize the Force Band required an app (well, it is an app-controlled droid, after all — and the app is needed only for the initial setup and install of updates; I had 160 audio updates waiting for me). It's cute to watch BB-8 roll around for a while, but the novelty wears thin because some people think that's all it does...

People need to up their game if humanity is to have any hope for surviving the robot revolution.

The purpose of this article — to quote Lor San Tekka in Episode VII — is to "begin to make things right." I haven't seen a comprehensive breakdown of the functionality behind Sphero's Star Wars droids. I haven't looked that hard, so maybe it's out there somewhere on the interwebs. But, regardless, I've made my own — and I'll add more as time permits and as the droids add new skills.

A video of R2 and BB-8 in action might also be added here eventually. There's a particular way I'd like to go about it, so it's all about finding the time to do it the way I think it should be done. And, hopefully, that'll be before the droids take over the world — which might be sooner than I thought.

In Case You Missed It: R2 Basics

Learn about R2-D2's basic bells and whistles!

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