Boulder toy company inspires new droid BB-8

Boulder, Colorado toy company Sphero helped inspire the tech behind BB-8, a new droid that will appear in The Force Awakens. BB-8 may give R2-D2 and C-3PO a run for their money when it comes to most popular droid.

In case you forgot, here is a look at BB-8:

Sphero is a Boulder-based tech company that has been making smartphone controlled spherical toy balls (Sphero) for the last four years. You can buy Sphero ($155.18) now on Walmart.

So how did Sphero hook up with Disney to work on the Star Wars film? Sphero was part of the Disney Accelerator program, a “highly selective, immersive mentorship and investment program for technology-enabled startups in the media and entertainment space.” At the same time Sphero was in the program, Disney was finishing production on the Force Awakens.

While the company hasn’t officially announced a Star Wars tie-in, media reports hint that a BB-8 made by Sphero will be on store shelves by Christmas:

Source: CBS Denver.

The goal that Sphero has for the apple-sized BB-8s is to make sure that Star Wars fans will be able to take their very own little piece of the Force Awakens universe that they can carry with them. Stay tuned for more details!

Here’s a look at Artoo and BB-8 on stage: