Hardware

Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8 Star Wars toy

By · September 10, 2015, 7:25 AM PST · billdetwiler

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  • 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.

    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: 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:

    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: 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: Droid and charging stand

    Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

  • Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Droid

    Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

  • Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Head piece

    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: Spherical body

    Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

  • Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Cracking Open tools

    Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

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

    Chris McElhone/TechRepublic

  • Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Opening the body

    Chris McElhone/TechRepublic

  • Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Internal hardware revealed

    Chris McElhone/TechRepublic

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

    Chris McElhone/TechRepublic

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

    Chris McElhone/TechRepublic

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

    Chris McElhone/TechRepublic

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

    Chris McElhone/TechRepublic

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

    Chris McElhone/TechRepublic

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

    Chris McElhone/TechRepublic

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

    Chris McElhone/TechRepublic

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

    Chris McElhone/TechRepublic

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

    Chris McElhone/TechRepublic

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

    Chris McElhone/TechRepublic

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

    Chris McElhone/TechRepublic

  • Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Removing the batteries

    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: Removing the drive motors

    Chris McElhone/TechRepublic

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

    Chris McElhone/TechRepublic

  • Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: System board

    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: 6552G 508 A2

    Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

  • Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: CSR101x Bluetooth chip

    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: 134 A1508 032

    Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

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

    Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

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

    Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

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

    Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

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

    Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

  • Cracking Open the Sphero BB-8: Completely disassembled

    Chris McElhone/TechRepublic

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.

Bill Detwiler/TechRepublic

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By Bill Detwiler

Bill Detwiler is Editor in Chief of TechRepublic and the host of Cracking Open, CNET and TechRepublic's popular online show. Prior to joining TechRepublic in 2000, Bill was an IT manager, database administrator, and desktop support specialist in the ...

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