I believe that more or less everyone reading this has at least heard of Star Wars, though chances are most of you have watched all the movie, series and have even owned Star Wars merchandise at one time or another. You also probably know that Disney now owns Star Wars franchise, and that US-based company has actually turned today, September 4th, into what they call a ‘Force Friday”. The company is launching all sorts of Star Wars merchandise today, but we won’t talk about that merchandise in general, we’ll focus on one specific product they released, the BB-8 App-Enabled Star Wars Droid built by Sphero.
Now, what is the BB-8 Droid? Well, it’s a truly adorable rolling robot which was shown to us by Disney in the first Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer which was launched a while back. Well, Disney has launched a new, smaller BB-10 robotic toy which you can control with your smartphone, and which is already available for purchase in the US. You can control this toy via your Android or iOS device, and you’ll need the companion app in order to do it as well, of course. Once you pair this to your device, you’ll get the option to choose between three modes: Driving, Holographic Messaging and Patrol. Driving is kind of self-explanatory, you can use your Android or iOS device in order to control the robot and take it for a spin. The Holographic Messaging option will make the robot turn videos into Star Wars trademark holo messages which you can check out within the app. The third mode available, Patrol, will show you the real-time log of BB-8’s movements and what not, with the help from accelerometer and gyroscope sensors located on your smartphone or tablet. You’ll also get the charging dock for this product, a wireless charging dock (inductive charging), as you can see in the images / video down below.
Sphero’s BB-8 robot is a cute little toy which currently costs $149.99 on the company’s official website (link down below). Before you decide whether or not you’d like to purchase one of these, check out the video which is embedded down below. This 2-minute clip will show you this toy in action, and will let you get a better idea of what features it has to offer. Additionally, you can get more info about the product on the company’s website.
