5 ms·

BB-8 Droid Teardown

128 points by fictivmade 11y ago

daviding 11y ago
The actual toy moving: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1Y2WfcCb4M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1Y2WfcCb4M My dog would love it.
- delecti 11y ago
  Your dog might, but I speak from experience when I say that your cat definitely would not. (assuming it's anything like the original Sphero)
  - jarnix 11y ago
    My cats love to hunt the original Sphero, but you need to make it move slow and then fast, play hide and seek, etc. You could be interested in the "mousr" : https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/525985345/mousr-the-robotic-mouse-that-plays-with-your-cat https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/525985345/mousr-the-rob... (I'm not involved with the project, just curious, and a cat person)
    - fictivmade 11y ago
      I've wanted to get my hands on one of those for my cat!
- webXL 11y ago
  I have one on order primarily for my kids' benefit, but I didn't think about the pet bewilderment aspect. Man, now I'm really excited to get it!
joezydeco 11y ago
It's great to see a teardown that also analyses the product engineering going on. Very nicely done.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- morley 11y ago
  I was reminded of this blog's analysis of the Apple Watch manufacturing process from its announcement video: http://atomicdelights.com/blog/a-glimpse-at-how-the-apple-watch-is-made http://atomicdelights.com/blog/a-glimpse-at-how-the-apple-wa... The site also has a similar analysis of the Mac Pro.
Bedon292 11y ago
Very interesting to see how it works in there. Though it is sad that it had to be cut apart though, it would be fun to upgrade it.
- blacksmith_tb 11y ago
  I had to saw my Sphero open to replace its batteries (lesson learned - don't leave it charging). Its guts are very similar, and I used some plastic-specific adhesive and then clear repair tape to hold it shut. Ideally the shell would have screwed open and shut, given the wall thickness (I have seen some other repair / upgrades that used clear plastic balls, like xmas ornaments, as the replacement shell). The polycarbonate is very strong, my Sphero once fell ~12 feet onto hardwood, without any damage - physical, mechanical, or electrical.
  - binaryblitz 11y ago
    The nice thing about the way they make it is that it's waterproof!
- vvanders 11y ago
  Nothing a little bit of epoxy won't fix.
vtlynch 11y ago
what are good resources to learn more about the product/material engineering they discuss in this article?
- funkedelic_bob 11y ago
  I'm pretty the site of this article has a bunch engineering resources and articles.
cyanbane 11y ago
We have one and I think myself and the kids played with it most of last weekend. I was hoping that the Bluetooth sequences might be able to be decoded so one could emulate commands (or create new ones) from a Bluetooth equipped broadcasting PC. If anyone has any info on anyone attempting this, please post.
- jonah 11y ago
  Does the sphero SPRK info help? It's the education/dev version. http://www.sphero.com/sphero-sprk http://www.sphero.com/sphero-sprk
- rocha 11y ago
  The original Sphero has an SDK, but BB-8 is build on a newer version of their platform. It uses BLE like Ollie. It should be possible to reverse engineer their BLE service, for example: https://github.com/hybridgroup/cylon-ollie https://github.com/hybridgroup/cylon-ollie
- voltagex_ 11y ago
  I'll be looking at this when I get back home to Australia in the coming weeks. With luck my BB8 will be waiting for me. If you look at my past HN comments there's a trail of unfinished projects. Contact me, pester me, encourage me. This should be a fun one.
rancur 11y ago
Someone please make someone stop using large fonts on my phone that are hard and slow to read
jbit 11y ago
> Also note the lead weights used here to make the product feel more substantial Are these weights really made of Lead? Or is "lead weight" just an industry term for anything heavy? If they're actually Lead, how do toys like this conform to RoHS?
- drzaiusapelord 11y ago
  I'd be surprised if it was. Children's toys get tested for lead and just breathing it in is dangerous for kids. Also, lead has a certain look and feel to it. When I open up toys and gadgets, the weight in there doesn't look like lead to me. No idea what it is, but I'd guess a zinc or iron alloy.
stcredzero 11y ago
I start scrolling to read the article, and -- okay, what is this dev doing? I'm outta here!

128 points by fictivmade 11y ago

The actual toy moving: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1Y2WfcCb4M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1Y2WfcCb4M My dog would love it.

delecti 11y ago
Your dog might, but I speak from experience when I say that your cat definitely would not. (assuming it's anything like the original Sphero)
- jarnix 11y ago
  My cats love to hunt the original Sphero, but you need to make it move slow and then fast, play hide and seek, etc. You could be interested in the "mousr" : https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/525985345/mousr-the-robotic-mouse-that-plays-with-your-cat https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/525985345/mousr-the-rob... (I'm not involved with the project, just curious, and a cat person)
  - fictivmade 11y ago
    I've wanted to get my hands on one of those for my cat!
webXL 11y ago
I have one on order primarily for my kids' benefit, but I didn't think about the pet bewilderment aspect. Man, now I'm really excited to get it!

joezydeco 11y ago

It's great to see a teardown that also analyses the product engineering going on. Very nicely done.

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
morley 11y ago
I was reminded of this blog's analysis of the Apple Watch manufacturing process from its announcement video: http://atomicdelights.com/blog/a-glimpse-at-how-the-apple-watch-is-made http://atomicdelights.com/blog/a-glimpse-at-how-the-apple-wa... The site also has a similar analysis of the Mac Pro.

Bedon292 11y ago

Very interesting to see how it works in there. Though it is sad that it had to be cut apart though, it would be fun to upgrade it.

blacksmith_tb 11y ago
I had to saw my Sphero open to replace its batteries (lesson learned - don't leave it charging). Its guts are very similar, and I used some plastic-specific adhesive and then clear repair tape to hold it shut. Ideally the shell would have screwed open and shut, given the wall thickness (I have seen some other repair / upgrades that used clear plastic balls, like xmas ornaments, as the replacement shell). The polycarbonate is very strong, my Sphero once fell ~12 feet onto hardwood, without any damage - physical, mechanical, or electrical.
- binaryblitz 11y ago
  The nice thing about the way they make it is that it's waterproof!
vvanders 11y ago
Nothing a little bit of epoxy won't fix.

vtlynch 11y ago

what are good resources to learn more about the product/material engineering they discuss in this article?

funkedelic_bob 11y ago
I'm pretty the site of this article has a bunch engineering resources and articles.

cyanbane 11y ago

We have one and I think myself and the kids played with it most of last weekend. I was hoping that the Bluetooth sequences might be able to be decoded so one could emulate commands (or create new ones) from a Bluetooth equipped broadcasting PC. If anyone has any info on anyone attempting this, please post.

jonah 11y ago
Does the sphero SPRK info help? It's the education/dev version. http://www.sphero.com/sphero-sprk http://www.sphero.com/sphero-sprk
rocha 11y ago
The original Sphero has an SDK, but BB-8 is build on a newer version of their platform. It uses BLE like Ollie. It should be possible to reverse engineer their BLE service, for example: https://github.com/hybridgroup/cylon-ollie https://github.com/hybridgroup/cylon-ollie
voltagex_ 11y ago
I'll be looking at this when I get back home to Australia in the coming weeks. With luck my BB8 will be waiting for me. If you look at my past HN comments there's a trail of unfinished projects. Contact me, pester me, encourage me. This should be a fun one.

rancur 11y ago

Someone please make someone stop using large fonts on my phone that are hard and slow to read

jbit 11y ago

> Also note the lead weights used here to make the product feel more substantial Are these weights really made of Lead? Or is "lead weight" just an industry term for anything heavy? If they're actually Lead, how do toys like this conform to RoHS?

drzaiusapelord 11y ago
I'd be surprised if it was. Children's toys get tested for lead and just breathing it in is dangerous for kids. Also, lead has a certain look and feel to it. When I open up toys and gadgets, the weight in there doesn't look like lead to me. No idea what it is, but I'd guess a zinc or iron alloy.

stcredzero 11y ago

I start scrolling to read the article, and -- okay, what is this dev doing? I'm outta here!