Star Wars: The Force Awakens has been in theaters for awhile now, and to call the film a success would be an understatement. It’s won the hearts of millions of fans, and cemented new characters into the canon of the colossal Star Wars franchise. One such character is the little droid BB-8. The white-and-orange bundle of droid has been a huge hit with fans since first revealed, and even inspired one fan to build one of his own.

A man named Cory Pacione, a graphic designer based out of Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, set out to build his own life-sized, fully-functional, BB-8 droid and documented his progress along the way. (Click the image below to see his video)

Pacione refers to himself as a “forever fan” of Star Wars, and has previously built his own versions of R2-D2 and Disney’s Wall-E. In an interview with a CBC Radio show in New Brunswick, Pacione proclaimed a “need to build” his own BB-8 after seeing the droid in the first teaser trailer for The Force Awakens last year.

With the use of some magnets and a barbell, Pacione was able to create a counter-weighted stalk to keep BB-8’s head magnetically connected to the droid’s body and remain upright as it moved. He then used a scooter motor to design a drive system, similar to the one used in Sphero toys, that allowed BB-8 to actually move like it does in the film.

Pacione hopes to bring his creation around to conventions, or make hospital visits to fans of the franchise in the near future. It will only be a matter of time before the R2 Builders across the world will be looking to Pacione’s creation as a template for building their own BB-8 models.

Let us know what you think of Pacione’s BB-8 build in the comments below!

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HT: CBC

Featured Image: Lucasfilm LTD.