Sphero bought a crowdfunded music tech company to expand its unlicensed toys

Sphero, the maker of connected toys like BB-8, announced this week that it's acquired Specdrums, a company that makes rings that produce music through taps on different colors. We don't know how much Sphero spent to acquire the company's technology, but Specdrums raised over $175,000 on Kickstarter last year and just finished shipping to all its backers. It's clear that Sphero plans on integrating the ring and color system into its proprietary toys.

Sphero CEO Paul Berberian tells The Verge that the company wants to "get back to its roots," through toys that won't have as much branded, character-focused play.

We can already get an idea of what these future toys could do because Specdrums integrated its technology with Sphero's open SDK...

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