It has been four long years for British-Nigerian engineer Silas Adekunle.
His company, Reach Robotics, has worked tirelessly to develop MekaMons, a line of agile robots that can be controlled by a user’s smartphone.
Smartphone-controlled robots may sound like all fun and games, but these robots are no child’s plaything: they can do battle with other MekaMons at a drop of the dime.
If that sounds dope to you, you’re in luck.
According to TechCrunch, Adekunle’s robots will be sold at Apple stores starting this week. Although a variety of robots are available, the entry-level device starts at $300.
“One of our investors set up a meeting [with Apple], and they loved it,” Adekunle said. The Apple team was especially excited to see Adekunle’s plans to incorporate augmented reality in his product. The tech giant has recently doubled down on AR development by releasing a special AR toolkit (ARkit) that Adekunle plans to use in future versions of his technology.
In part thanks to that synergy, Apple will sell the innovative robots, that are a perfect cross between robotics and gaming, exclusively online and in its brick-and-mortar stores.
“It will feel surreal to see them finally in stores after spending years building these robots from scratch,” Adekunle said.
The journey to Apple stores saw Adekunle working for GE Aviation and Infineon before he set out on his own. The inventor first had the idea for MekaMons while still in college.
“We’ve created an entirely new video gaming platform,” Adekunle stated in a press release. “MekaMon straddles both the real and virtual worlds while taking the gaming experience beyond a player’s screen and turning their sitting room into a limitless robotic battle zone.”
Check out more in the clip below: