of this writing, holed up in a small office, I can hear a quiet hum coming and going in the ground. In reality, it is a quiet humming sound followed by a thunk less quiet plastic meets plaster wall, followed by a short break where my phonetics focuses on the emotional various sounds that emanate from my phone's speaker.
This may be the most curious way to "enjoy" a toy is without doubt one of the more passive, but Sphero the BB-8 is not a toy, but that is a very simple robot interpreter of Pixar of aspirations. The droid $149.99 , will go on sale this Friday in Apple's retail stores, Best Buy, and Sphero the own website (don't worry, it's compatible with Android, also). That's a pretty hefty price, but the BB-8 Sphero offers something few Star Wars toys have been able to remove: captures the personality of the Android, and it says everything to where Sphero wants to push robotics in the future.
If the trailers are designed to create hype of a film, a Star Wars trailer serves to excite a whole platform for multimedia entertainment. From the beginning, the mythos of Star Wars has been equal, with displays of magic and out of the screen. In the ' 70s and ' 80s, is largely dominated by Kenner action figures, and the merchandising of Star Wars but it has remained a massive force, in 2011, the license makes an estimated $3 billion, and this year is about to be unusually large, thanks in large part to the Force wakes up, the first Star Wars film since 2005'S Revenge of the Sith. The new elements of force awakens the trailers? A cross of a lightsaber and a very nice soccer ball with a robot. This is a moment big enough in Star Wars write me that Disney has done a global event of unboxing all tie in the case of toys, an event that is described as "force Friday."
"The War of the galaxies has been always the same film and goods"
but although this type of dish is perhaps old hat of Hasbro and Lego is a new sense of Sphero. The company was founded in 2010 (then called Orbotix) and has published a handful of products since: the Sphero holder (an orb can be controlled with the phone), the cylindrical building Ollie, and several variations of each, all interesting ideas, but nothing of what has been found the commercial success of general use. With the BB-8 toy, this is all you need to change.Sphero collaboration with Disney began last summer when he joined the Disney accelerator program. It is a strange movement of a child of four years in the market company products placed on the market, but it is obviously a smart. As creative officer tells us Rob Maigret, one of the mentors of the Sphero was none other than Disney CEO Bob Iger, who has shown great ability for acquisition (read: profitable) talent, including Pixar, Marvel, and Lucasfilm. (Maigret was another mentor, joining the company after the program.) At its first meeting, Iger (apparently) showed the Sphero co-founders a image of BB-8 and challenged them to make a working version, which the duo (again, apparently) achievement conceptualize in about 24 hours. (The version in the film, however, is more puppets of robotics.)
It is not surprising that the basis of BB8 is essentially the flagship product of the companypaint. In addition the biggest liability is the carrier - a piece of plastic with small wheels "connected" magnetically in the orb. (For those who want to be picky, the head is proportionally less than the "doppelgänger" alternates, in the screen.) is a key addition and, like that of the film model BB-8, gives his personality. As John Lasseter classic red animated short the Dream
, which starred a unicycle, having a little joint allows you BB-8 emote in identifiable forms.
As in previous products Sphero, a smartphone is essential in order to interact with BB-8: all the interface (and in fact all the sound effects) occurs through an iOS device or Android. BB-8 can be inaccurate, i dare say "moody" - the way in which it responds to manual driving. This is particularly true when you start; it seems that there is a pre-programd maneuver when it is going backwards for a few seconds too long, as if it is "liquidation" of move (and to be fair, this thing of top speed is very fast). Once in motion, however, the direction becomes quite intuitive. BB-8 also has several patterns that may trigger, such as the figure eight, but what is even more important is that you can transmit several "emotions" as nodding yes, shaking his head no, and something that either joy or panic, i'm still not sure. Reportedly, you can use voice commands to as well, although we couldn't get it to work in the initial version of the application that we have used.
Then there is no way to patrol. Left to its own devices, BB-8 wanders around the room without a directive. Does not have a camera (once again, the head is only plastic), so for the majority of cases only around until it hits a wall, the pissy act (that is my interpretation at least), and then go to another sense. I would not recommend leaving it on the tables and other elevated surfaces, but if not, it is worth mentioning that the thing has been quite durable so far. (Its effectiveness on a carpet is variable, pending your word tissue of choice.)
Sphero makes a lot of bold statements on the packaging, the main one of which "holographic communication", but which in reality is a augmented reality video - either a X-wing model or some small video recorded with a camera on the front, that you can see the pointer. It is nice, but you'll probably only try it once.
But for all the bells and whistles, the BB-8 main directive is really only a ball of cuteness, to make you feel something of emotion and attributed a algorithmically driven device. Even when you re not using BB-8, the droid, look around, as if it is impatiently waiting for you to give it instructions. The first time that I have set in its charging cradle, suddenly began the "look around", twisting and shaking her head erratically as if you are trying to find out their environment. It was a shock to me and some other work colleagues, but this is a new approach of Sphero in personality of their products. "We believe that this is probably the first step for Sphero," said Inspector Maigret, reflecting on the company instead of ambitious goals for the future. "We believe that ultimately there will be a robot in every house, that each one will have a companion."
Maigret knows the dreams are a form, but you can see the very, very soon the roots of the ideas in BB-8. As a new level of Star Wars merchandising, the droid stands out as a convenient and capable.
Sincerely hope there is something fascinating seeing out of their own. I can't say how long it will be the novelty, but i could easily see in the i with the autopilot and to enjoy the occasional catches that makes something rare and beautiful. It is like a cat, in that sense.
"We believe that ultimately there will be a robot in every house that we all will have a companion."
But BB-8 also represents something new merchandising of Star Wars. Without doubt, other matches with the passage of the years have reached or even exceeded the mark of $150, but in many ways, this feels like a different kind of article of luxury, one, perhaps, for the generations that i remember seeing in the cinemas of Star Wars (Original Trilogy or the new trilogy) and have a bit of disposable income now. This is not a static action figure; Sphero the BB-8 is designed to move and emote even when you're not actively participating, which ultimately, is the reason to consider. And who knows? By the time episode XXIV cinemas, perhaps we will have friends autonomous robots. By now, however, it's just a ball of cuteness, a rare interesting ball of cuteness, though.Point Video: genetic engineering dreams behind their favorite toys
source: theverge.com