“Bleep booboo bleep, blee boo boop.” — Droidspeak for “this fan-made LEGO BB-8 from Star Wars: The Force Awakens should be a real retail set, pronto.”
For a submission to LEGO Ideas, which allows LEGO fan builders to potentially turn their own designs into retail sets, creators Mark Smiley and artbot138 have taken it upon themselves to build a moving BB-8 completely out of “100% genuine [LEGO] parts” (plus a little aftermarket painting). And the result of their efforts, seen in the above video, is an innovative and fun take on everybody’s favorite little Star Wars spherical miracle.
Aside from being an exceptionally accurate scaled-down replica (seemingly a bit larger than the Sphero BB-8), this LEGO BB-8 has plenty to offer in terms of design and ingenuity. It’s able to spin, although only on one axis, while maintaining its head on top of its body. This is accomplished using weighted magnets inside of its larger bottom shell, which always remain in the upright position, and allow the axle on which they hang—which turns the shell around them—to rotate freely. The head has magnets as well, along with little wheels that allow it to skate along the surface of the body as it rotates underneath. A look at the weighted magnets and axle inside of the body is below:
Smiley and artbot138’s BB-8 also comes with a Jakku-sand-ish display stand equipped with a crank and wheels, which allow BB-8 to roll like the little LEGO boss that he is.
There are also accessories, which include little attachable arms that have both a “lighter” and a “zapper,” in case you need to either silently approve of something or get your best friend’s sweet jacket back.
As of right now, this little rolling droid has about 1464 supporters, but it will still need to get to 10,000 in the next 542 days to be considered for mass production. So vote for this LEGO BB-8 because the Resistance, and Mark Smiley and artbot138, need your help.
What do you think about this LEGO BB-8? Droidspeak your mind in the comments section below!
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HT: Popular Science
Images: Mark Smiley
