As I sit at my table, working away on a weekend evening, my room is punctuated by chirpy, upbeat robotic squeaks and what sound like giggles. Or at least the closest a robotic toy can get to giggling. They emanate from the Sphero BB-8, a robotic toy inspired by the Astromech droid from two of the latest Star Wars movies to have hit the screens. It patrols my room with a mind of its own, happily bumping into walls and chairs, rolling away and having some fun on its own.

In the movies, the BB-8 is Resistance Pilot Poe Dameron’s droid, and endeared itself to fans, thanks to its antics and key moments in the film where it is entrusted with missions to help the good guys. (Not saying much here; if you’re a Star Wars geek, you’ll get it, and if not, well, then it’s a lovable little robot).

So how did the BB-8 end up in my room and become my sidekick (of sorts)? Well, it’s now on sale in India, thanks to Luxury Personified, an electronics distribution firm, bringing it here. Well to be fair, some of my friends got it as early as 2016, thanks to buying it off websites catering to the US or just asking friends or family to lug it here for them. Nonetheless, all that hard work can be avoided now.

And what does the toy version of the BB-8 do? Unpack it from the well-designed box, and you’ll find a ball and a hemispherical top, complete with two antennae and ‘eyes’, along with a charging-cum-docking station for the toy. The hemispherical top fits magnetically on top of the ball and has wheels so as to allow free rotational movement as the BB-8 hobbles along.

It charges via induction on the dock and takes over three hours to reach full charge. The blinking blue light on the dock becomes solid once it is charged completely. To play with it and to make it do anything really, one has to download the companion Droids by Sphero app from the App Store or the Play Store and connect to it via Bluetooth. This happens quite seamlessly and with some Star Wars music playing in the background, sure to give them nerds the goosebumps.

With the app, one can make it patrol the surroundings on its own and it records information like temperature and distance travelled, sometimes adorably going around in circles. You also have something like a free mode where with a joystick on your phone’s screen, you can control its movements. There’s also a function with which you can draw a path that the BB-8 will follow and complete. It also perks up on listening to certain voice commands.

If you happen to own other droid toys from the Star Wars universe like the R2-D2 toy, you can even get them to talk to each other, although this was something I couldn’t test. You can even watch a Star Wars move with the BB-8 and it will respond animatedly and enjoy it along with you, but you will have to leave the app open on your phone for that.

Speaking of the app, it’s quite heavy so make sure your phone has enough RAM left for its use. Battery life on the BB-8 is less, it lasts for about an hour before requiring a recharge. But the toy is durable and can easily bump into stuff and knock things around without damaging itself.

Should you buy one? If you’re a Star Wars fan, you most probably will and if you aren’t, it’s a fun toy and can serve as a nice distraction for all age groups.

Price: ₹11,000, but cheaper on some online stores

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