The team at Ninja Blocks wants to give you futuristic control over your environment. That is why they created the Ninja Sphere, a sophisticated system that learns and adapts to the behaviors in your home.
The Ninja Sphere system uses a series of sensors and actuators to build a three dimensional model of your home, learning the position and patterns of objects along the way. To do this the sphere relies on overlapping waypoints set up around the house, each connecting back to the sphere through a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) tag. Through trilateration, the sphere is then able to determine the exact location of specific items, such as valuables or pets.
Ninja Blocks initially launched on Kickstarter in 2012 and this extension funding period is meant to add an intuitive user experience; one that consists of learned behaviors and no longer requires a smartphone application to exert control.
The Ninja Sphere is built around an ARM Cortex A8 processor and communicates via ZigBee, Bluetooth, USB, and Wi-Fi. The heart of the “sphere” is the entertainingly named Spheramid, whose encased LED lights provide simple information cues to the user. Gesture control will eventually allow users to measure and control temperature, energy use, or even the water status of their plants.
Team Ninjatakes inspiration from the ideas of open source and the knowledge that almost any device or appliance can be connected to the Ninja Sphere. The developers expect that the huge open source group their first Kickstarter campaign cultivated should help take the Ninja Sphere to the next level once released.
If the Kickstarter campaign experience is any sign of what is to come, Ninja Blocks and Ninja Sphere should do just fine. The whole thing is quite professional, with timing charts, frank discussions on progress and future goals, slick graphics, and (of course) technical specifications. Even the huge engineering feats of gesture control and trilateration are blended nicely into the overall presentation, showing that the Ninja Sphere really is one complete, well planned package.
Images Courtesy of Ninja Block