Enhance Sphero Maneuverability With Liquid Latex

Sphero robotic ball is a popular robot controlled via bluetooth. The device surface is hard, smooth plastic, which is perfect in terms of device durability, however on most surfaces Sphero slides too much, harming its maneuverability.

Sphero vendor provides a cover for Sphero to deal with this maneuverability issue - the cover is called Nubby Cover. However, from my experience Nubby Cover has following disadvantages:

too thick
its offroad-like nipples downcrease the maneuverability and fine-tuning of sphero movements
you have to remove the cover from Sphero prior to charging
overpriced (~16 USD)

Due to this reasons, I ordered 250ml of Liquid Latex from eBay (price ~10 USD) and tried to cover Sphero with latex.

Step 1: Use Holder to Fix Sphero

Use some holder to keep Sphero from moving. I use the a clip holder for soldering.

Step 2: Minimize the Contact Surface

We want as much of the area of Sphero to be covered with latex, so that we use narrow pins to keep the Sphero in fixed position.

Step 3: Protect Your Table From Latex

Put some plastic cover below the holder - when you will paint the Sphero with latex, redundant latex will drop off.

Step 4: Prepare Latex and Painting Brush

Put small amount of liquid latex into a pot and prepare a brush for painting.

Step 5: Cover Sphero With Latex

Use brush to apply thin layer of latex onto Sphero surface. If the latex layer is too thick on bottom of the Sphero and too thin on its top, wait a minute and use brush to "redistribute" the latex more properly. Try to keep the layer as thin possible, you can always thicken the latex layer later.

Step 6: Wait Until Latex Is Dry and Test the Charger

Once latex is dry, check Sphero surface. If you applied only thin layer of latex and did it properly, the latex layer should be barely visible. Put your Sphero on contactless charger to make sure it is being charged properly.