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" LAS VEGAS\u2014Who says game night has to be confined to either a physical or digital world, without the ability to switch back and forth between the two? Following in the footsteps of last year&amp;#039;s darling robotics startup Anki and their deceivingly mundane (it&amp;#039;s actually complex and brilliantly engineered) car game, Anki Drive, Ozobot and its eponymous toy robot have just been unveiled at this year&amp;#039;s Consumer Electronics Show. Like Anki, Ozobot fuses elements from the physical (the robot) and digital (smartphone and tablet) world into one gaming experience and platform. After 18 months of continuous development, the company is calling the Ozobot the world&amp;#039;s smallest intelligent robot of its kind. The Ozobot itself is dome-shaped with a translucent shell, and resembles a kind of diminutive R2D2. It also comes with customizable protective skins so that you can personalize the look of your robot. Each Ozobot measures slightly over 1 inch in diameter and height, and is packed to the brim with sensors that can achieve intelligent gameplay using optical communication. Incorporating dual micro motors and a photo sensor array that can recognize precise patterns, colors, light, and secret codes\u2014over 1000 of them\u2014the Ozobot swivels, pivots, and oscillates along whatever playing surface it&amp;#039;s on, whether that&amp;#039;s a game board, paper, or a smartphone or tablet screen. It can detect automatically if the surface it&amp;#039;s perched atop is physical or digital, and it can transition seamlessly between the one and the other without missing a beat.       In the digital realm, Ozobot is compatible with both iOS and Android platforms, and works right out of the box: After a quick juice-up via a microUSB port, a single press of its button turns the little guy on. (The LiPoly battery tucked inside each bot lasts for 40 minutes of continuous operation, and the battery charges to a hundred percent capacity in 40 minutes.) Four Ozobot gaming apps will be available at launch. There&amp;#039;s Ozopath, a strategic game where you and a friend jockey to get your respective Ozobots to the home base first; OzoLuck, a game of chance with a social aspect, where the Ozobot navigates a maze and randomly chooses its outcome; OzoDraw, an app that lets you draw out the bot&amp;#039;s path to test its intelligence; and OzoRace, a racing app for a pair of robots that features a physical track built around a tablet. As expected, next year will also bring a program for interested developers to program third-party apps on the Ozobot platform. &amp;quot;We&amp;#039;re focused on one thing\u2014providing gamers of all ages with a unique playing experience. One that stays physical and somewhat traditional while also embracing the cutting edge of what new apps and games have to offer,&amp;quot; said Nader Hamda, CEO of Ozobot. &amp;quot;We believe Ozobot is the perfect bridge that will blend old with new, nostalgic with innovative, and we can&amp;#039;t wait to introduce it to &amp;#039;game nights&amp;#039; everywhere.&amp;quot; Ozobot is currently still in production, but users can reserve a set starting January 15 on Kickstarter. The company says it is aiming to get the product on shelves in time for the 2014 holiday season. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/robots/a9901/ces-2014-ozobot-announces-tiny-intelligent-robot-16326667/>