LG's ball-shaped robot can amuse your cat with a laser

BARCELONA — We expected a new, modular flagship phone from LG, and we imagined there might be a VR-related gadget in the mix — both turned out to be true — but what we didn't expect was a robot. 

Yet, that's exactly what LG gave us here at Mobile World Congress: a ball-shaped, home-monitoring robot that you control with your phone and use it to amuse your pets, control home appliances and see what's happening in your house. 

The Rolling Bot (don't call it a "ball," LG reps said, but everyone did) connects to your home network via Wi-Fi and has a microphone and a speaker, an 8-megapixel camera and a laser pointer

LG gave us several use cases — in one mode, the robot starts rolling around in a frenzy, pointing the laser dot around it and making R2D2-style noises, which should make your cat less bored while you're away.  Read more...