Sphero knows how to make STEM programming fun, and the company’s latest robotics kits are no exception. Kids can find their STEM inspiration through sports using the new soccer-themed robotic kit, which contains a mini robotic ball that looks just like a soccer ball. Sphero also is releasing a comprehensive mini kit with a variety of miniatures that kids can use to create obstacle courses, games, and more. With price tags under $100, these two robotic kits are bound to be a hit among kids and parents alike.
Sphero’s second mini kit, Sphero Mini soccer, is inspired by the sport of soccer. Included in the kit is Sphero mini robotic ball with a soccer-ball style shell and cones. Kids can use the Sphero Play and Edu app to program the ball to move around the cones or knock the cones down. The cones also can be arranged into a makeshift goal, and kids can fire the Sphero into the goal using Kick drive and other modes. Each kit includes a single robotic mini ball, eight cones, and a Micro USB cable to charge the Sphero ball.
Sphero Mini Activity Kit takes the company’s popular mini ball and bundles with a series of miniature accessories. The accessories allow kids to create obstacle courses with mazes, tunnels, and cones for the Sphero ball to traverse. The set also includes 15 activity cards to get kids started and an exclusive clear Sphero mini robotic ball with a rechargeable battery that delivers up to 45 minutes of use.
Kids can follow the step-by-step STEM projects that work with Sphero Play or Sphero Edu. Once they master the basics, kids can use Sphero to develop their coding skills further. They can expand their capabilities using Scratch blocks and then eventually Javascript to control how the mini-robot moves and responds to inputs.
Sphero also is adding a new Block Drive into its Play app on September 16. This new driving mode uses coding to control the movement of the Sphero robot. New movement blocks tell the robot which direction to roll, while light blocks allow kids to add colorful LED effects to their robot. Sphero’s Block Drive feature won’t be limited to the Soccer Mini and the Mini Activity Kit. The feature will be made available to all the robotic balls in Sphero’s lineup.
The Sphero Mini Soccer kit will debut first, going on sale starting September 16 at Sphero.com and other select online retailers. It will cost $50 when it debuts. The Sphero mini activity kit will be available starting October 2 at Sphero.com and other online retailers. The mini kit will cost $80 when it goes on sale this fall.
AI companies spend enormous amounts of time convincing us their technology is safe and secure. But what happens when those same companies become targets of increasingly sophisticated AI-powered attacks? Anthropic, the company behind Claude, is now facing that question. According to a Washington Post report, cybersecurity startup Cathedral discovered vulnerabilities that let its researchers access sensitive information in Anthropic's internal systems.
The researchers used AI agents to identify potential entry points in less than 12 hours. Interestingly, they didn't need to crack Claude itself. Instead, they exploited weaknesses in third-party business applications that Anthropic uses for everyday operations. Anthropic's security testing program disclosed the findings, which allows outside researchers to identify and report vulnerabilities.
Military working dogs charge into places the rest of us would flee. So, I understand why anyone would want to breed tougher, healthier dogs for the job.
Warhound, a new startup from Colossal Biosciences co-founder Ben Lamm and Anduril co-founder Palmer Luckey, has stepped out of stealth with $200 million to clone and gene-edit working dogs for American troops, police departments, and emergency services (via TechCrunch).
AI can describe a picture, identify objects, and answer questions about what a camera sees. But when a blind user needs a quick answer, getting an entire spoken essay about the scene isn't exactly helpful. Researchers at the University of Maryland (UMD) have found that AI-powered visual assistance can leave blind users doing too much work to get the information they actually need.
The study, titled Say It My Way: Exploring Control in Conversational Visual Question Answering with Blind Users, examined how people interact with Be My AI, an AI-powered feature of the Be My Eyes app. The researchers found that users often received lengthy descriptions that didn't adequately address their immediate goals, forcing them to ask follow-up questions or find ways to steer the AI towards a more useful answer.