Starwars BB-8 Droid Working Miniature Version Awakens Starwars episode VII (The Force Awakens) revealed the now famous round droid BB8. And of course, every fan wants one. Makers can make their own life-size Phone Controlled BB8 (see Video 3 below). If you don’t have the time or the skills to make your own, you are in luck. Sphero, the robot manufacturer adapted their spherical robot, and built on top a smartphone enabled miniature version of the BB-8! With your iOS or Android device, you can control the body to roll or rotate head. There is also a patrol mode where BB-8 roams on its own. And of course, the droid lights up its internal LEDs and makes sounds, exactly like in the movie. Charging has been made super easy. The robot’s battery charges through induction when you put it on its base. This cool gift is getting even cooler, since the price is dropping. You can get your own mini BB-8 for less than $130. If you already have an old Sphero, you can hack it by yourself and make your own BB-8 (see Video 2 below).

And by the way, let’s be more creative and go beyond what is already done, by for example adding a laser pointer. What about building a full scale BB-8? A such droid can include a pico video projector and be even more realistic. There an open source project that can serve as a good starting point to make this cute robot. Video 1: Minature Smartphone Enabled BB-8 Droid Video 2: Transform a Sphero into a BB-8 Video 3: DIY Life-Size Phone Controlled BB8 Droid Scroll Back To Top (Reuters) -- Far from science fiction, the ability to seemingly control things with your hands is no longer the fantasy that stories like Star Wars once imagined, thanks to a research team in Taiwan that has created technology akin to using The Force.READ MORE: Uber is thinking of getting into the travel businessThe Taiwanese technology researchers at PVD+ have written an algorithm for the Apple Watch that renders it a remote controller that can pilot drones and manipulate lights using hand

PVD+, founded in 2013 and led by Mark Ven, a civil engineering PHD student at the National Chung Hsing University along with a professor there, Yang Ming-der, and three other group members, calls the software Dong coding.After 18 months of research and application, the PVD+ team now say they can install the algorithm on any device and give it the ability to control directions.See more of the technology in the gallery below: Demonstrating outside the Park Lane Department Store on Gongyi Road in Taichung City, Ven showed how simple gesticulations using his hand could fly his Parrot AR Drone 3.0, with the Apple Watch interpreting what he was doing and sending corresponding signals to the drone."Previously we've needed complicated controls to fly drones, but now we can use a wearable device, and through human behavior and gestures directly interact with them - using a hand to control and fly drones directly," he told Reuters."We can also control a ball, like that in 'Star Wars'' BB-8 droid, using a wearable device as well," he said, referring to his Sphere 2.0 drone that resembles the BB-8 droid from the latest Star Wars movie, The Force Awakens, directed by JJ Abrams and starring Daisy Ridley and Harrison Ford."

We used to play with drones using controllers, but now we could control them with our hands. It's something I'd love to buy after seeing it here," said Wang Si-kai, a student from Hsiuping University of Science and Technology watching the demonstration.The technology is still in its nascent stages - easily affected by wind and other environmental factors, while batteries can be exhausted in as little as 20 minutes."parrot ar drone 2 speedThe drone's performance was great, although the environment provided a bit of a challenge - the airflow made it harder to control. ar drone gps module reviewI think we could consider it good if we exclude the environmental factors," said another Hsiuping University student, Wu Jia-hsin.In addition to flying and driving drones, Ven and his team have adapted the Dong coding to manipulate lighting - not just turning lights on and off, but even changing colors by writing letters."google buys titan drones

When I clap twice the light turns on, as it detects that I'm clapping. When I write an English 'R' in the air the red light turns on, and when I write an English 'Y' the yellow light turns on. Lastly, when I clap twice the light turns off," Ven said."During this process we are communicating and interacting on the Human Computer Interface by using the internet of things, and the wearable device," he added.ar drone price comparisonDrone gesture controls have been under development for the last few years among various teams across the world, including Thalmic Lab's Myo armband which measures electrical activity in muscles rather than the physical movements.ar drone parrot sdkThe PVD+ team is currently in the process of applying to Taiwan's Li & Cai Intellectual Property Office for a patent for its Dong software.ar drone parts brisbane

:Are you ready for the biggest online dating day of the year?This year's most popular Christmas present could kill youWhy Google's virtual assistant won't tell you jokesIt would be easy enough to dismiss Parrot's MiniDrone Rolling Spider as just another mini-quadcopter. And at $100 (AU$140, £90) it would be a pricey one, too, considering you can get a basic mini-quadcopter for less than $30. But, despite appearances, the Rolling Spider isn't an ordinary mini-quadcopter. For starters, it's controlled entirely with your smartphone or tablet and not a typical two-stick radio controller. And it's generally a lot of fun, except for its biggest problem: flight times of 8 minutes or less (which is the lifespan of the single included rechargeable battery). Inside, Parrot used an ultrasonic sensor, a 3-axis gyroscope and 3-axis accelerometer, a vertical camera, and a pressure sensor, which combine to make flight very stable -- indoors and outside. Then there are the wheels that give this MiniDrone the "Rolling" part of its name.

Attach the wheels to the top of the Spider and you can drive it around on the ground or even drive it up a wall and across the ceiling. While that's fun, it's probably more important that they give the propellers some protection while you're flying around indoors, since those are typically the first thing you'll need to replace. And you will need to buy more propellers because you only get one set with the Rolling Spider. In the box along with with the MiniDrone and wheels you get one battery, a Micro-USB cable, and some stickers so you can dress up your MiniDrone. Accessories coming in September include batteries at $20 each (AU$22, £14), replacement propellers for $6 a set, and replacement wheels for $10. Like Parrot's larger AR.Drone quadcopters, the Rolling Spider is completely controlled with an app on your smartphone or tablet. The FreeFlight 3.0 app is available for iOS, Android, and, in October, Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1 devices; I did all my testing with a Galaxy S4 and an iPhone 5S .

The Spider connects to your phone or tablet via Bluetooth. The whole process is pretty automatic: Turn on the Spider, turn on Bluetooth on your device, and open the app. It should automatically connect to your device and once it does you launch the controller and you're off. For flying, which can be done with or without the wheels attached, you tap the Take Off button and it will start the propellers and send the Spider straight up and start hovering. And it does this out of the box unlike other mini-quadcopters. There's no need to adjust trim or anything else: It will just hover in place, which is a big reason why it's so easy to fly. In its default Normal mode, the joystick on the right lets you raise and lower the Spider as well as rotate it left and right. To move it forward, back, left, and right, you keep your thumb pressed down on the right joystick and tilt your device the direction you want it to go. If it starts to travel somewhere you don't want it to, don't panic, just lift your thumbs off the controls and it will stop and hover.