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Hardware

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8 Star Wars toy

By Bill Detwiler September 8, 2015, 12:22 PM PDT on Twitter billdetwiler

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Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8 Star Wars toy

Sphero BB-8 Star Wars toy teardown

Sphero BB-8 Star Wars toy teardown

“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” opens in theaters this December, but you don’t have to wait until then to get up close and personal with one of the movie’s new characters. Thanks to robot maker Sphero, fans can buy their very own version of BB-8, one of the astromech droids from the movie.

I got my hands one of the new BB-8 robots, and after taking it for a test drive I wanted to find what makes it work as well as what makes it different from Sphero’s other rolling robots.

For a complete walkthrough of the teardown, including a video of the process, check out my article, Sphero BB-8 teardown reveals the robot tech inside this rolling ‘Star Wars’ droid.

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8 Star Wars toy

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Box Contents

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Box Contents

Inside the box, is the BB-8 unit (spherical body and detachable head piece), special Star Wars-branded charging station (with cable), and product documentation.

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic
Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8 Star Wars toy

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Dimensions and weight

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Dimensions and weight

The BB-8 measures 2.9-inches in diameter, stands 4.5-inches tall and weighs about 7 ounces.

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic
Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8 Star Wars toy

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8:

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8:

Although the BB-8 has a fancy droid paint job and head piece, it’s very similar to the Sphero (shown in white) and Sphero 2 (clear SPRK Edition shown here).

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic
Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8 Star Wars toy

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Sphero SPRK Edition

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Sphero SPRK Edition

Sphero SPRK Edition’s clear shell gives us an idea of what’s likely inside the Sphero BB-8’s body. To find out for sure, we’ll need to crack it open.

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic
Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8 Star Wars toy

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Droid and charging stand

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Droid and charging stand

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic
Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8 Star Wars toy

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Droid

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Droid

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic
Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8 Star Wars toy

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Head piece

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Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Head piece

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic
Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8 Star Wars toy

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Head piece rollers and magnets

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Head piece rollers and magnets

Magnets inside the head piece hold it to the body, while the tiny wheels allow it to roll across the spherical body.

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic
Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8 Star Wars toy

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Spherical body

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Spherical body

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic
Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8 Star Wars toy

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Cracking Open tools

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Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Cracking Open tools

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic
Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8 Star Wars toy

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Cutting open the spherical body

Chris McElhone/TechRepublic

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Cutting open the spherical body

Chris McElhone/TechRepublic
Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8 Star Wars toy

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Opening the body

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Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Opening the body

Chris McElhone/TechRepublic
Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8 Star Wars toy

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Internal hardware revealed

Chris McElhone/TechRepublic

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Internal hardware revealed

Chris McElhone/TechRepublic
Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8 Star Wars toy

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Removing the internal hardware

Chris McElhone/TechRepublic

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Removing the internal hardware

Chris McElhone/TechRepublic
Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8 Star Wars toy

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Internal hardware with head piece attached

Chris McElhone/TechRepublic

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Internal hardware with head piece attached

Chris McElhone/TechRepublic
Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8 Star Wars toy

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Removing the mast assembly

Chris McElhone/TechRepublic

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Removing the mast assembly

Chris McElhone/TechRepublic
Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8 Star Wars toy

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Removing the system board screws

Chris McElhone/TechRepublic

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Removing the system board screws

Chris McElhone/TechRepublic
Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8 Star Wars toy

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Removing the system board

Chris McElhone/TechRepublic

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Removing the system board

Chris McElhone/TechRepublic
Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8 Star Wars toy

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Removing the lower housing screws

Chris McElhone/TechRepublic

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Removing the lower housing screws

Chris McElhone/TechRepublic
Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8 Star Wars toy

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Removing the lower housing

Chris McElhone/TechRepublic

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Removing the lower housing

Chris McElhone/TechRepublic
Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8 Star Wars toy

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Removing the battery cover

Chris McElhone/TechRepublic

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Removing the battery cover

Chris McElhone/TechRepublic
Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8 Star Wars toy

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Batteries attached to internal frame

Chris McElhone/TechRepublic

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Batteries attached to internal frame

Chris McElhone/TechRepublic
Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8 Star Wars toy

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Prying the batteries loose

Chris McElhone/TechRepublic

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Prying the batteries loose

Chris McElhone/TechRepublic
Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8 Star Wars toy

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Removing the battery connector clips

Chris McElhone/TechRepublic

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Removing the battery connector clips

Chris McElhone/TechRepublic
Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8 Star Wars toy

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Removing the batteries

Chris McElhone/TechRepublic

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Removing the batteries

Chris McElhone/TechRepublic
Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8 Star Wars toy

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Removing the receiver coil for the induction charging system

Chris McElhone/TechRepublic

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Removing the receiver coil for the induction charging system

Chris McElhone/TechRepublic
Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8 Star Wars toy

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Removing the drive motors

Chris McElhone/TechRepublic

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Removing the drive motors

Chris McElhone/TechRepublic
Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8 Star Wars toy

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Removing the drive wheels

Chris McElhone/TechRepublic

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Removing the drive wheels

Chris McElhone/TechRepublic
Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8 Star Wars toy

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: System board

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: System board

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic
Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8 Star Wars toy

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: ST Micro STM32 F3 MCU (72MHz 32-bit ARM Cortex-M4 core)

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: ST Micro STM32 F3 MCU (72MHz 32-bit ARM Cortex-M4 core)

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic
Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8 Star Wars toy

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: 6552G 508 A2

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: 6552G 508 A2

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic
Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8 Star Wars toy

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: CSR101x Bluetooth chip

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: CSR101x Bluetooth chip

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic
Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8 Star Wars toy

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: ST Micro M24512-R512 Kbit serial I2C bus EEPROM

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: ST Micro M24512-R512 Kbit serial I2C bus EEPROM

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic
Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8 Star Wars toy

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: 134 A1508 032

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: 134 A1508 032

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic
Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8 Star Wars toy

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: HUATAI HT6292 battery charging chip

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: HUATAI HT6292 battery charging chip

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic
Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8 Star Wars toy

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: 3.7V 350mAh Lio-ion batteries

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: 3.7V 350mAh Lio-ion batteries

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic
Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8 Star Wars toy

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Standard Motor FP130-KT drive motors

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Standard Motor FP130-KT drive motors

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic
Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8 Star Wars toy

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Induction charging system receiver coil

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Induction charging system receiver coil

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic
Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8 Star Wars toy

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Completely disassembled

Chris McElhone/TechRepublic

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Completely disassembled

Chris McElhone/TechRepublic
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By Bill Detwiler
Bill Detwiler is the Editor for Technical Content and Ecosystem at Celonis. He is the former Editor in Chief of TechRepublic and previous host of TechRepublic's Dynamic Developer podcast and Cracking Open, CNET and TechRepublic's popular online show.
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