Designer Builds a Full-Size, 3D-Printed BB-8

Rudie Obias
Imgur/Montybug
Imgur/Montybug / Imgur/Montybug
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If you’re one of the millions of people who saw Star Wars: The Force Awakens this weekend, then you’re familiar with the cute and loveable BB-8 ball droid. While you can buy the rolling droid from Lucasfilm and Hasbro, you can also make your own full-sized BB-8 at home—provided you've got a 3D printer and hundreds of hours of free time.

Montybug from the Facebook group BB-8 Builders Club posted images of the BB-8 that he created using 3D-printed parts and panels. His BB-8, which is made up of 100 individual pieces that were painstakingly sanded and glued together, took approximately 900 hours to create. The droid’s LED lights and head run on an Arduino board, an inexpensive microcontroller-based circuit kit that can sense and control objects. While it doesn’t roll yet (Montybug is working on making that happen), the droid’s head does rotate and move.

Imgur/Montybug

The BB-8 Builders Club is a closed Facebook group, but anyone who is interested in making a BB-8 at home can join.

[h/t TechCrunch]

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