Image via Complex Original
Intro
With a little technical and coding know-how you could program your smartphone to control pretty much whatever you like. We've seen people use their handsets to set the lighting in their homes, change the channel on their TVs, and, more recently, control miniature robots. YouTube is littered with videos of guys and girls who have figured out ways to have their phones move little self-made robots back and forth. But what if you, the eager but mechanically inept consumer, want to use your iPhone to play with a cool toy? Well, now you can buy one. Over the past year or so some companies have released or announced toys that grown-ass kids can control using their iPhones. These are the five coolest ones we've come across.
iRemoco
5. iRemoco
Price: $95
Watch Video Demonstration: Click Here
Started as a Kickstarter project, iRemoco provides what looks to be one of the best on-screen controls for a toy helicopter we've seen. The infra-red-controlled iRemoco helicopter is built to withstand harsh crashes—because you will crash it—and is packed with rechargeable batteries. What's more, iRemoco plans to introduce more iPhone-controlled products in the future that will be compatible with the same plug-in receiver that will ship with the helicopter.
HeloTC
4. Griffin HELO TC Touch-Controlled Helicopter
Price: $50
Watch Video Demonstration: Click Here
One of our favorite tech accessory maker has entered the iPhone toy field with a dope twin-motor helicopter. Made to fly indoors—i.e. your office—the HELO TC comes with what Griffin calls a Flight Deck that you plug your iPhone into after downloading the free HELO TC app. Once in the Flight Deck you control the copter with a simple touchscreen controls.
Spy Tank
3. Rover App-Controlled Spy Tank with Night Vision
Price: $100
Watch Video Demonstration: Click Here
If the soldiers in Call of Duty were to use an iPhone-controlled device, it'd be this one. The Brookstone Spy Tank allows you to control it using a free app from up to 200 ft away and comes equipped with microphone and video camera capabilities so you could, you know, spy on people and what not. The price was recently slashed down to $100 so now's the time to cop.
Sphero
2. Orbotix Sphero
Price: $130
Watch Video Demonstration: Click Here
Believe it or not, this diminutive ball was one of the most talked about products at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show. Armed with sensors, the ball moves when the user tilts his or her phone in a certain direction. Orbotiz has opted to make the Sphero API open to everyone so anyone can develop and build apps. This is huge as the Sphero is nothing without a purpose, and with open development, that purpose can change as much as you would like. For example, Orbotiz developed a game of Sumo Wrestling where two balls battle each other to stay on a table. The Sphero is on schedule to hit stores in the second half of 2011.
Parrot
1. Parrot AR.Drone
Price: $300
Watch Video Demonstration: Click Here
Yes, it costs as much as an Xbox 360, but Parrot's AR.Drone is very worth the cost of entry. The only quadricopter that can be controlled via iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch, it's also the most high-tech toy on this list. Thanks to a built-in wi-fi sensor, you don't need to add any dongles to your iOS device. The coolest part of the Drone, however, comes courtesy of its on board cameras that allow you to see exactly what the Drone would see and play a series of downloadable augmented reality games.
