Sphero BB-8 Teardown
Background and Identification
The Sphero BB-8 Droid was the first app-enabled Star Wars robot toy that came from Sphero's partnership with Disney. The Sphero BB-8 is a replica of the BB-8 droid that appeared in Disney's Star Wars: The Force Awakens and its sequels. Sphero no longer provides support for their BB-8 toy, but users on iOS and Android can still download the companion application.
Sphero, Inc. (formerly Orbotix) is an American consumer robotics and toy company based in Colorado. In July 2014, Sphero was a participant in Disney's technology accelerator program for startups. Disney CEO Bob Iger showed the company unseen photos from the then-unreleased Star Wars: The Force Awakens film, including images of BB-8. Sphero was offered a licensing deal to produce an official BB-8 toy based on Sphero's technology. Sphero released their BB-8 robot in 2015 and later created a model of R2-D2, another Star Wars robotic character. The BB-8 robot was accompanied by a special Star Wars-themed control application, which features augmented reality "holographic" messages, like in the movie. The Sphero BB-8 robot was discontinued after the Disney-Sphero partnership ended.
The Sphero BB-8 is approximately the size of an orange (much smaller than the BB-8 robot from Star Wars) and includes orange and silver markings. BB-8 consists of a spherical body and a dome-shaped top. It includes asymmetrical panels to make it easier for viewers to track the robot's motion.