Star Wars Fan Creates His Own Working, Full-Size BB-8 Droid

This is the droid you're looking for.

By Outer Places | Published Apr 12, 2017

This article was originally posted on Outer Places.

After Kenny Baker's legendary performance as R2-D2, we were really hoping BB-8 would have a person rolling around in it. Unfortunately, it wasn't in the cards. Instead, the ILM team created a BB-8 that was part robot, part puppet. Now, BB-8 has become such a big hit that there are waffle irons based on it, not to mention a little remote control toy that you can control with a wave of your hand.

That's all fine. We like waffles. But now a Star Wars fan has put 3-D printing and an incredible knowledge of robotics together to create a full-size, working BB-8, complete with remote control and light-up LEDs.

BB-8 is one of the first projects for PatchBOTS, a YouTube channel centered on creating 3-D printed robots and props from fantasy and sci-fi movies and TV. From the super-detailed outer casing to the seamless movement, PatchBOTS' BB-8 is about as close as we're ever going to get to the real Star Wars bot short of raiding ILM Studios. The secrets behind BB-8's floating head and omnidirectional rolling was an interesting secret for a while, but Lucasfilm has since released a number of videos on how BB-8 was created. Still, it's not like they release DIY guides, so it's incredibly impressive to see PatchBOTS create BB-8 from scratch.

If you want to check out more from PatchBOTS, including development videos that show BB-8 at varying stages of construction, check our their YouTube channel, and follow Patrick on Twitter!