Sphero

Sphero is a robotic ball that is controlled with a smartphone. Upcoming games incorporate the ball as a controller.

Fans of Sphero, the robotic ball that you control with your smartphone, will soon be able to use the ball to navigate fields of flying space rocks as they blast them apart with an anti-matter cannon, the makers of the gadget entice on their website.

The "coming soon" gaming app marks the latest evolution for the gadget that debuted at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.  Then, it was a gee-whiz device that users controlled with their smartphone to roll it around a room.

This allowed games such as Sphero Golf, a hybrid between a virtual and real round. The phone serves as the golf club and the robot as the real-world ball. You can make a course anywhere and even play on an actual course should swinging your phone be less frustrating than a driver.

The Sphero-as-controller Space Fighter game, along with Chromo, a Simon Says-like color-matching-memory game, are getting buzz as the company makes media calls in New York. The folks at Business Insider got a preview at their offices on Thursday. 

Folks interested in getting their hands on Sphero can pre-order online.

More on Sphero and other to control with a smartphone:

• Meet Sphero, the robotic ball controlled by iPhone
• Device teaches your old robot new tricks
• Robotic helicopters at work in Afghanistan