Gadgetory

if you've seen the force awakens trailer there's probably one thing you've wanted more than anything else two things I mean there's two things this is bb-8 the adorable pixar s controlled as usurped r2d2 as a robotic hero for the new film zero a startup conveyed as perhaps best known among tech circles has managed to make a miniature version that can run around your house no strings attached the collaboration began last summer when Sparrow joined the Disney accelerator program and met with none other than Disney CEO Bob Iger himself and so the story goes when essentially they pulled out cero and showed Bob and let him play around with it said uh you know I want to show you something I'm working on this thing that might be interesting for us to have a conversation about and funny enough it kind of operates like this and by the way do you think you could make it like actually work considering you're so good with this ball and it was it was about one day before Adam Andy and who are the co-founders the company came back and had kind of a concept of how to bring it to life since the very beginning the Star Wars universe has been as much about merchandising as it has been the films that inspired in the 70s and 80s that meant Kenner action figures with over 300 million sold during that time today Star Wars license toys games costumes towels but virtually anything you can imagine are all produced by dozens of companies and this year's an exceptionally busy time the force awakens hits theaters December 18th in an army of movie tie-ins awakens today September 4th an event that's being advertised as force Friday spero is offering something a bit more premium than most companies the first time he plays bb-8 in his charging cradle the droid comes to life lights flicker its head twists and turns I also could swear it was looking at me at one point but to be clear the head is really just plastic held on by magnets it's a bit jarring at first but it's also perhaps the best introduction to what Sphero really wants its droid to be you know when we when we designed the product we did a lot of it in animation first and so we actually wrote some software that would allow us to you know create certain emotional moments that bb-8 would have like what happens when bb-8 gets scared what does he do when he's surprised what about when he's mad and we basically rendered those all out and software you have him go I you know BB maybe that's been around and then we had a mechanism to push that to the robot bb-8 can be controlled by your smartphone for driving and other puppetry but also can be put in an automated patrol mode left to its own devices bb-8 seems rather curious albeit a bit pissed whenever it hits a wall and as just might take at least also I wouldn't recommend letting him on tables or other elevated services but if you do it's worth noting as things been pretty durable so far Siro makes a lot of bold claims on the packaging chief among them holographic communication which the probably guess is just a nifty AR trick but for all the added bells and whistles the BB aids primary directive is really just to be a ball of cuteness to make you feel something in ascribe emotion algorithmically driven device and it speaks as heroes future goals we think that this is probably the first step for sparrow we think that ultimately there will be a robot in every house that everyone will own a companion that isn't we're out today spiros bb-8 isn't the kind of joy that I'd have a beer with nor is it the kind that could fetch a beer for me that isn't its point anyway but there's something earnestly exciting about singing go off on its own I can't say how long that novelty will last but I could easily see myself just turning on autopilot enjoying the occasional moment where I catch it doing something weird you know kind of like a cat in that respect maybe a Roomba at $150 this is definitely among the pricier tie-ins for the film and Sphero is wisely marketing it as a premium product even manages a carry coveted spot on the Apple store shelves among other places and yes it'll work with Android - this is just the first volume what's assuredly many years of Star Wars merchandise the force awakens is just the first of several films coming out in the next five years not to mention spin-off properties TV shows comic books games get the idea and who knows by the time the Star Wars write is over we might all actually have robot companions I may need a beer for us release wait in line a concession stand