At first we would like to thank Coolblue online shop and Sphero for offering us a sample of the Star Wars BB-8 Droid for testing and reviewing.

 

 

 

About Coolblue:

 

“Coolblue has started as a small company; now it is an online shop with more than 327 specialty shops and seven physical stores. Since their inception in 1999 their only aim was to make people happy on their purchases and have an obsessive focus on customer satisfaction. With over 1200 employees, they work hard to surprise their customers.”

 

About Sphero:

 

“Founded by passionate robotics engineers, and based in Boulder, Colorado, the Sphero team takes their playtime very seriously. Starting out as a single robotic ball, Sphero has created a movement within the toy industry where people of all ages now expect more from their toys. We call this movement Connected Play, where players will be able to upgrade their play in ways previously unavailable.

 

As our flagship product, Sphero paved the way for us to create the best experience in the connected toy industry – fusing the latest technology in robotics with the most creative and engaging software.

 

Leading the 21st century toy experience, we will continue to bridge the gap between the real and the virtual worlds with our app-controlled toys – creating exciting and amazing experiences in entertainment, play, and education.”

 

Product Features:

 

Authentic Movement

Guide your BB-8 with a smartphone or tablet.

 

Listens & Responds

BB-8 recognizes and reacts to your voice.

 

Holographic Communication

Record and view virtual holographic videos with BB-8.

 

Autonomous Behavior

BB-8 has a mind of its own – explore the Star Wars™ galaxy together.

 

Adaptive Personality

Your BB-8’s unique attitude and actions evolve as you interact.

 

Product Specifications:

 

iOS & Android compatible

Top speed of 4.5 mph (7ft/s)

Durable polycarbonate shell

Bluetooth Smart BLE connection (100 foot range)

Inductive charging (over 1 hour of play on a full charge)

Free App: BB-8 App-Enabled Droid powered by Sphero available through iTunes or Google Play

Height: 11.4 cm / Width: 7.3 cm / Weight ~200 g

 

Even months before the Star Wars: The Force Awakens movie is going to be released in cinemas, we have seen a lot of related merchandise available like plush robots, desktop lamps, Angry Birds Star Wars plush toys, glassware sets, lightsaber selfie sticks, necklaces, sweaters, chargers, towels and many…. many more. Throughout all this merchandise, we have found some which are really iconic and notable regarding the Star Wars universe; one of them is the BB-8 droid from Sphero, which is quite a nice robot that gets controlled to our smartphone/tablet via Bluetooth Smart BLE. The product has upgradable firmware via the mobile software, comes with voice recognition and does also have an independent operation mode named “Patrol”. Sphero has proven to bring a lot of attention to details, and this begins right with the box itself:

 

 

 

A closer look on the top cover will inform us that the droid is operated via our mobile device, with both pictograms and text:

 

 

 

What we do learn if we lean the packaging on one side? Sphero is talking about the Authentic Movement, “Listens and Responds”, Holographic Communication, Autonomous Behavior and Adaptive Personality features:

 

 

 

Some words on the hardware and software components of the droid are available on the opposite side:

 

 

 

A product description is also available on the bottom area of the box and here we will learn that applications are available for both Android and iOS platforms:

 

 

 

After we have unsealed the box and removed the top, we will get to see that Star Wars box art is still present on the following layers:

 

 

 

The manufacturer did not forget to remind us about them by placing the nice Sphero logo in the middle:

 

 

 

A small leaflet is available which describes the main steps we need to take in order to get the droid up and running:

 

 

 

The tiny cute robot is available on the bottom layer, along with its bundle:

 

 

 

The bundle consists of the charging dock which is also fully themed and also a separate black cardboard enclosure which we will open right away:

 

 

 

For the people which are familiar with the Star Wars universe, the dock resembles a Star Wars hologram projection pod:

 

 

 

On the bottom side of the inductive charging dock we will get to see four small rubber feet and a central sticker with the power rating:

 

 

 

On the sides, we will get to see the other interesting design elements so it would fit in with the Star Wars universe perfectly:

 

 

 

In the vicinity of the Star Wars logo, we will also get to see three semi-transparent lines; here is the area where the charging LED resides:

 

 

 

There is also a Reset button available which can be pressed when BB-8 is docked; this reset operation can be also done within the app:

 

 

 

Also on the side we will be able to spot the USB port:

 

 

 

The black cardboard enclosure does contain a multi-language document with extra explanations on the product, but also the USB cable used for charging:

 

 

 

 

The connectors of the cable are also branded with the Sphero logo:

 

 

 

Our little BB-8 drone is composed from two parts: its head and its main body, which is designed like a ball (Sphero ball):

 

 

 

The bottom side of the head component is protected by a transparent film, which must be used before the first use:

 

 

 

Two small wheels can be seen here which do help the head move smoothly on the surface of the Sphero ball; if the droid is used on dirty surfaces, dust or other material will accumulate in the wheel area and must be removed in order to ensure proper operation. A magnet is also placed here which will be attracted by the one found inside the Sphero ball body:

 

 

 

Chief Software Architect Adam Wilson from Sphero mentioned that with the BB-8 they have perfected the “pad printing” technology, where they overlaid more than 120 different 2D patterns onto BB-8’s 3D body. A closer look will reveal the complexity of the droid art:

 

 

 

 

Two small flexible antennas are also available in the back in order to simulate the exact aspect of the droid which appears in the movie:

 

 

 

The head of BB-8 can be attached easily on its body, even before getting it in charge mode:

 

 

 

 

We would recommend charging the droid for a bit before the first use because there is no way to know the current battery level:

 

 

 

The dock will signal the charging state and will stay fully lit when charging has been completed; right after we have placed the cute BB-8 onto the charging dock, it will come alive and start moving in different ways and yes, this without having it connected to the application; do not be afraid though, since this will last only a few minutes and afterwards he will go to sleep again:

 

 

 

Depending on your gadget, you can download the BB-8 application from iOS or Android stores, free of charge; after the application gets launched, we will be first welcomed by a splash screen:

 

 

We will be then asked to enter our age:

 

 

The Privacy Policy and TOS are also provided us for a light read and we must accept them in order to go further:

 

 

Further on, we are asked for our email address in order to receive more updates and offers from Sphero:

 

 

The Star Wars iconic theme music will start up along with a suggestive animation of the BB-8 robot:

 

 

The next step would be to hold our tablet/smartphone near our cute droid in order to start the initialization:

 

 

As we have mentioned before, the droid has an upgradable firmware so after the initial check-up, our sample has started upgrading:

 

 

For the moment, the BB-8 robot app does come with three main operation modes; the first one is called Drive and with it we can take the control of the robot ourselves:

 

 

If we begin with the Drive mode, we will be first asked to place BB-8 on the ground in front of us:

 

 

We will be instructed that the blue light which lights inside of his body is named the aim LED light:

 

 

If we move our finger on the BB-8 pictogram, we will be able to adjust the aim in a custom position:

 

 

The blue light must be practically adjusted to face us so BB-8 will know our position and move correctly when in manual mode:

 

 

Further on, we are given full control of the BB-8 directional touch pad:

 

 

The tutorial can be repeated when needed:

 

 

On the top left side, we have an arrow for returning to the Mode Selector, while the top right arrow will help us go to Drive Settings; Drive Settings includes a Speed Override slider along with the option to enable “Auto Heading Adjust”. Auto Heading Adjust will automatically adjust BB-8 aim if we change the direction we are facing. The left side of the screen comes with the droid directional controls and on the right we have different behavior types for or BB. This is not all! we also have the option to drive in reverse by clicking the bottom left button or set a temporary boost with the bottom right button. The right central button does switch between the Aim mode and behavior buttons:

 

 

Here is a video to illustrate Drive mode:

 

View on YouTube

 

Next we would like to explore the Message menu which gives us the ability to record and view holographic messages with our BB-8:

 

 

The application allows us to select between some pre-recorded Star-Wars themed holograms or record our own:

 

 

The application functions like some augmented reality applications we have seen which tracks BB-8 position, enables a white LED light inside its chassis; the custom hologram can be recorded with the front camera of our gadget while the hologram can be viewed by pointing the back camera to our droid; the overall effect is very nice!

 

 

Here is a video to illustrate the Message mode:

 

View on YouTube

 

Finally, we do have the Patrol mode, which allows BB-8 to explore on its own:

 

 

Patrol mode can be started by clicking on the central button:

 

 

While our cute droid explores around our house, we will get different readings from its sensors, including internal temperature (also gyro-balance monitor, a tracking system one chronometer, acceleration mapping or gyro stabilization):

 

 

Here is a video which exemplifies this operation mode; you will also see that the droid is quite camera-shy and prefers to spend most of its time outside our camera frame; also, if we try to manipulate the droid while it moves its head, it may fall off and we will need to reattach it:

 

View on YouTube

 

The Settings menu allows us to configure different other settings, including voice recognition; voice commands do include:

 

“Ok, BB-8”, “Come In, BB-8”

“Look Around”

“Go Explore”

“Go to Sleep”

“Wake Up” and more….

 

 

The Customer Support area will inform us on our BB-8 MAC address (Bluetooth), current firmware version and App version. From here we can also use the Troubleshooting menu, send Feedback, Diagnostics or reset the Tutorials:

 

 

The Advanced Settings menu will allow our BB-8 to enter Demo Mode or force a Firmware Update:

 

 

Sphero has also published recently some funny interaction videos of BB-8 so here are some of them:

View on YouTube

View on YouTube

View on YouTube

View on YouTube

BB-8 is a droid which appears in the latest Star Wars: The Force Awakens movie and thanks to Sphero and their cooperation with Lucasfilm and Disney Consumer products, we are able to have a smaller version of it in our homes, which sports some of the features which we have seen in the trailers of the well-known episode of the series. Sphero has built BB-8 on the proven platform of their other droids so the final result is a fully-fledged app-controlled robot which can be driven in a manual mode, comes with a “Patrol” automatic mode and can also display holographic clips (up to 12 seconds long) via the augmented reality feature of the application. Sphero has also mentioned that they will continue to update the robot and add more interesting features to it, near the date The Force Awakens will be released and also afterwards.

 

What we would also like to add to the article is the fact that the droid does have a battery life of one hour and charges in about three hours, via induction thanks to the provided dock. Also, BB-8 can go with a maximum speed of 2.2 meters per second which is quite fast and we also have the possibility to adjust the speed from the application which is handy when piloting the droid on different surfaces.

 

Sphero has also mentioned that BB-8 has a waterproof body and the head is water resistant; however, we would recommend people to use the droid on less dirty surfaces because the small wheels on its head can accumulate quite a bit of dirt particles and we would need them with a cloth in order to keep it in a normal operation mode.

 

The cute droid is available at Coolblue for about 169 Euros and it makes a great gift for kids, Star Wars fans of any age or people which like to fiddle with intelligent robots.

 

Sphero Star Wars BB-8 Droid is Recommended For:

 

 

We would like to thank again to Coolblue online shop and Sphero for making this review possible!