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Actually, it's already past the idea stage – Montroller is already now successfully using Nokia, Androids and iPhones to provide a remote control signal to the Lego Mindstorm NXT robot. In essence, the phones can be used as 3D controllers, akin to a Nintendo Wii.

The idea for using a smartphone as a controller through its built-in accelerometer is certainly an enticing idea. It seems incredible that the solution has not yet reached the masses.

The application that turns phones into Wii consoles was developed in mid-January at a boot-camp-style start-up invention competition called Garage48, where competitors have to come up with services and applications from scratch in 48 hours.

Montroller won the public favorite award for its smartphone-controlled Lego robot, which could move its arms and turn on its lights. The six Montroller team members – Annika Toit, Anton Narusberg, Asko Seeba, Jaen Saul, Pearu Orusalu and Sander Saar – each landed a Nokia N8 phone as a special prize.

One of the company's leaders, Asko Seeba, gives a blow-by-blow account of the technical challenges in his blogpost. He writes that the smartphone cum remote controls for the Lego robots involved their fair share of cracking and hacking with a number of crucial issues that had to be resolved. Good luck also certainly factored in the success at Garage48.

As Seeba noted, the idea of turning a telephone into a 3D control unit dawned on them right before the start of Garage48.

The team thought it would be much more interesting to come out of virtuality and do something physical/real. Experimental designer Pearu Orusalu in particular was the force behind this direction.

As it turned out, they were able to get their hands on an build-your-own Lego robot and a couple hours later; Android and Nokia N8 telephones were already providing a signal to it. The robot comes with a Bluetooth unit it but not online control. Montroller came up with the solution to this issue.

Annika Toit pointed out that Montroller's controller app should go on sale in the Apple Store quite soon. Then they will look at the sales figures and decide the next steps.

"We are currently establishing contact with Lego and developing the app for sale online," says Toit. "Cooperation with Disney has also been mentioned and there have even been ideas to develop some device ourselves."

This would probably be one controller (hardware + software), that could be fastened to, say, a lawn mower, allowing you to sit on the porch sipping iced tea while using your mobile to tell the mower where to mow.

Toit also has a few future directions in mind: "We could look for a toy that is cheap in price and start marketing it bundled with our app, make a version for the online OVI store, and come up with our own proprietary toy, which will certainly be time-consuming but extremely exciting."

He added to conclude: "This project will open new opportunities and doors for us. Even if nothing comes out of it, we have received new encouragement to conquer the world with something new!"