Sphero's BB-8, via Sphero
The new Star Wars movie, soon to be followed by several more, brings with it a swathe of new official merchandise. But amid the pencil cases and mouse mats sits one, adorable, robot.
BB-8 is an ‘astromech droid’ in Star Wars, but it is a whirring, rolling, cool little bot to everybody else.
The head is just a magnet, with the sphere doing all the work. The product, Spher0 BB-8, looks like it fulfils many of the roles of a cat. Existing, buzzing about, sharing little emotion, and winding up dogs.
Managing to get itself onto shelves in Apple stores, this will take off really quickly.
However, according to this video from Vanity Fair, that may not be great news for puppies.
This toy is essentially the company’s Sphero product, with a head added and some Star Wars paraphernalia included to make it look like the real deal.
When you aren’t interested in commanding where BB-8 goes, you can even set it to patrol the area. Your very own security guard.
We’ve yet to get our hands on one, but its US commercial release is today.
The gadget is priced at US$150, which is incredibly steep for a bit of film merchandise, but it does looks incredibly fun.
Controlled from your smartphone, it just buzzes about. That may sound limited, but, if this video is anything to go by, it’s not.
Gigglebit is Siliconrepublic.com’s daily dose of the funny and fantastic in science and tech, to help start your day on a lighter note.
