Gadgetory

featured for just a few seconds in the trailer for Star Wars The Force awakens bb-8 is already a star stealing the spotlight from veteran r2d2 the newest droid that rolled out at the recent Star Wars Celebration convention has this little robotic ball to thank for it smooth moves Spiro a nap controlled ball first came out in 2011 last year the colorado-based company participated in a disney sponsored contests for startups and that's when it caught the eye of Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger Bob saw that the Sphero product and it rolling around and kind of let them in on what was being created in Star Wars The Force awakens and asked them could you could you bring this to life you know we felt that if there was anybody who could bring a ball to life it was us spiros goal of putting a robot into every home just got a huge boost with the release of the bb-8 toy which will retail for about one hundred fifty dollars through the app you can drive bb-8 around or let it explore on its own fans can also record a short message that will appear in the Apple like a hologram help me bb-8 you're my only hope the toy is part of a huge marketing and merchandising that precedes the movies opening which is set for December eighteenth in a galaxy not at all far away Bryant on cnet.com for CBS News