Robots and Physical Computing

The long awaited Hackaball has been released to those who backed as a kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hackaball/hackaball-a-programmable-ball-for-active-and-creat  , designed as a tough, easily programmable device for children that can be thrown around and (within reason) treated roughly. Further protected by an outer shell. The microcontroller is surrounded by a tough what appears to be a silicone (or similar) ring and encased in a two rubbery halves of a ball. In included within are  sensors (accelerometer and gyro), vibration motor,  LEDs, rechargeable battery, and a speaker (that can be programmed to make some interesting sounds, that go down well with children and adults). The two halves of the ball are translucent and diffuse the LEDs effectively. The computer you can throw, was the campaign's strapline and that is not an idle boast, I have let a six-year throw it around a large room with hard floors and even harder wall...