Star Wars' New Droid, BB8; the ball droid

minigeff

Ok I was gonna post this in the YouTube clip of the day thread but on second thoughts, I believe it needs it's own thread.

Now as a dweeb, I'm into all kinds of Sci fi stuff, Thunderturds, Jim90, FOU, and that one with the pointy eared little bastard in it.

Anyways, I've always been into this Star Wars thing, and although admittedly some aspects like Sarah Jessica Parker look-a-like JarJar blinks irritate me until my arse collapses, on the whole (that's with a w, you filth) I think the Star Wars franchise is pretty cool.

Unless you've got your head up your arse, you should have at least heard about the latest SW film, the force awakens, and in the first trailer there's a funky little beach ball droid called BB8.

It's quite funny how excited and into it fans can get, but this short clip shows my next thousand words;

http://youtu.be/A_K10fX9DSY

Now ok, you're wondering why I'm nursing a semi over this. Well, first up it's great to see real life effects still being used. In a world of CGI, it's great to see that someone actually stood up and pronounced confidently "screw ya PC Mac, I'm gonna make that crap for real!!".

And this is where I get on to my final point/rant.

In the clip linked above exc. producer Kathleen something gives a mention to a CEO of Disney who made a real BB8 happen. Cue the Ironside intro music. Although our cutest little new droid is just a dome on a ball, I can't even begin to emphasise how difficult that shape is to make work. I can assure you now that the fathead Disney CEO did jaff all but find people. It's not the CEO to thank, but the technicians, the electronics experts, the fabricators, the painters, the puppeteers, the researchers and the hard working geeks who all have a vested interest in what they do; make on screen live action like BB8 happen. Hats off to them, I can't wait to the rest of the film.

MG -{

Mr Martini

That BB8 thing is quite impressive.I'm trying to figure out how the dome stays on top of the ball (so to speak)? The ball can roll, yet I don't see any tracks to keep the dome in place. I wonder if there's a video out there to show how BB8 works.

minigeff

BB8 has inside his hollow body an RC omnidirectional chassis with at least 4 motors. In the centre of the chassis is a column like a joystick that can move in all directions, moved by servos. The chassis is kept as low as possible to keep the centre of gravity low.

BB8's head is kept as light as possible, and runs on ball bearing type casters hidden away underneath, so the head is in fact in contact with the body. The head is kept in place by magnets that attract to their counterparts on the column inside the body.

The real trick is stabilising the robot so it's actually controllable.

I believe gyros are used along with several initia and g force sensors.

So the way he moves is similar to how a helicopter works. The head acts as a weight to get things moving, the motors do the work. It's like you balancing a broom upside down in the palm of your hand.

All in all, it's pretty clever stuff, way past what CEO bob could ever dream of.

Thunderpussy

This isn't the droid, we're looking for.

ACACIA_AVENUE

That is an amazing piece of prop making -{
I must admit I am also looking forward to this film, but would like to see it at a decent cinema rather than at our local Hotdog/nacho/popcorn Cineplex

Mr Martini

minigeff wrote:

BB8 has inside his hollow body an RC omnidirectional chassis with at least 4 motors. In the centre of the chassis is a column like a joystick that can move in all directions, moved by servos. The chassis is kept as low as possible to keep the centre of gravity low.

BB8's head is kept as light as possible, and runs on ball bearing type casters hidden away underneath, so the head is in fact in contact with the body. The head is kept in place by magnets that attract to their counterparts on the column inside the body.

The real trick is stabilising the robot so it's actually controllable.

I believe gyros are used along with several initia and g force sensors.

So the way he moves is similar to how a helicopter works. The head acts as a weight to get things moving, the motors do the work. It's like you balancing a broom upside down in the palm of your hand.

All in all, it's pretty clever stuff, way past what CEO bob could ever dream of.

After I made my post I started to poke around the internet. I figured it had to be some sort of magnets inside the sphere, but just wanted to see what other peoples theories were. In the end, it's still a very impressive practical effect.