Tech Trend 247

Obi Wan is long gone, but his voice comes to me nonetheless, reminding me to be patient and asking me to… “Choose my activity?”

The voice, an uncanny blend of Alec Guinness and Ewan McGregor, is actually emanating from Sphero’s new Force Band, a device that lets you use the force…er…motion and gestures to control the already popular BB-8 by Sphero, a toy robot modeled on Star Wars: The Force Awaken’s scene-stealing BB-8 droid.

When I first saw the Force Band nine months ago at CES 2015, it was a somewhat unimpressive looking white plastic wearable with some pretty awesome capabilities. Inside the Force Band is the same inertial measurement unit (IMU), essentially an accelerometer and gyroscope, Sphero built into its little BB-8 robot. As a result, anyone wearing the Force Band prototype could control BB-8’s speed and direction using gestures.

This worked pretty well in January. Now the control and design is exquisite.

Beyond the software and components, though, this is a very different-looking force band. Gone is the cheesy white plastic. Now the device, which is attached to an adjustable Velcro band, is gun-metal black with orange accents, the red Rebel logo and a fair amount of faked up body damage. It looks like it would be perfectly at home on Poe Dameron’s X-Wing. This makes perfect sense since BB-8 was originally the pilot’s droid. 

Sphero actually got a lot of input from Lucasfilm/Disney on the look and even an assist finding the Obi Wan voice talent (Sphero would not share who does the voice).

The Force Band ships on its own for $79.99 or with a new Special Edition BB-8 for $199.99. This new Sphero bot works the same as the previous BB-8 (Force Band can control them all), but has a brand-new body. Sphero executives explained that the first BB-8 was designed without the benefit of them seeing Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Once they saw the film and how often BB-8 owners were reenacting and filming scenes from it, they decided to make a more realistic BB-8. The original bot’s shiny exterior has been replaced with a flat, scuffed up-looking skin that’s supposed to look as if this BB-8 survived a few battles on Jakku (the planet where we first meet Rey in the Force Awakens).

Jedi Training

Like the original Sphero BB-8, this one comes with a freely downloadable, dedicated app (iOS and Google Play). However, once you get through basic training, you don’t need the app to control the droid. 

The app clearly illustrates how to wear and adjust the band. In addition to an adjustable Velcro strap, there’s a plastic clip that makes it easy to take the Force Band on and off. Once you have it adjusted, you can activate the band by pressing the main button on the top. Lights just underneath the button indicate it’s on and, by color, what mode it’s in. There’s also voice guidance (all in Obi Wan’s voice). The band connects to the app just the way BB-8 does, by holding it near your smartphone.

The in-app Force Training mode uses a virtual BB-8 to teach you how to control the real one. It’s pretty intuitive. You raise your hand wearing the Force Band and pull it toward your chest. A quick thrust out with your palm facing away from you powers up the droid and sends it racing away from you. Moving your arm from side to side controls steering and speed is regulated by how high you hold your hand. To bring the droid back toward you, you turn your palm toward your face and pull in your hand toward your body.

The training task, which involved moving through the interior of the Millennium Falcon and outwitting a rathtar, will help you master these movements, though I found that the more time I spent controlling a real BB-8 the better and better I got.

Connect and play

The app training guides you directly to connecting to and controlling the actual BB-8. Like the original BB-8, the Special Edition droid is a Bluetooth Low Energy device. To connect to the Force Band, you simply follow the instructions from Obi Wan and place the band near the droid, which will light up and connect almost instantly. Aside from the fact that you’re using a Force Band, this works pretty much as it did when you used your phone to connect to the BB-8.

This worked smoothly for me and, after following the instructions that showed me how to align the direction of my droid with the Force Band, I was ready to start controlling it.

BB-8 by Sphero has never had speakers (it’s a sealed robot that’s even waterproof), so the BB-8 sound effects always came through the smartphone app. Now, however, they come though the Force Band, which has a surprisingly powerful speaker for such a small device (you can turn the sound off through the app, though this was not enabled in my test code). There’s also a little haptic motor that will vibrate to let you know about the presence of the Force, but more on that later.

I spent a couple of days using the Force Band to control my Special Edition BB-8 and drive it around the office. The reactions to me waving my hand and sending the droid slowly and then quickly this way and that were priceless. No one realized that the Force Band was giving me control or that it was the source of all the droid sounds. I got pretty good at carefully navigating obstacles. The only difficultly I had was when I turned my hand around to bring the droid back in my direction. This move reversed the motion I used to steer left or right, so I kept running BB-8 into walls. After a while, though, I even mastered this move, just like a true Jedi.

More app fun

The app isn’t just for training. Sphero has added an interesting Star Wars card-collecting game that will reward you for wearing the Force Band even when you’re not guiding the BB-8. In this Force Awareness mode (which is in the app, but can also be activated by pressing the Force Band’s main button a few times until Obi Wan says, “Your Force Awareness training has begun. Clear your mind.”) you can discover hidden Force disturbances as you walk around in the real world (yeah, it’s a little bit like finding Pokémon).

The Force Band alerts you to the existence of these disturbances and cards by activating the haptic motor. Each card you collect in the app can be used for different activities with the Force Band that do not involve the BB-8.

I started, for example, with Chewbacca’s Bowcaster. When I selected this holocron on the screen (Under Combat Training), my Force Band transformed into a virtual weapon. Sure, it looked the same, but when I quickly thrust my hand forward, the Force Band vibrated and made the same sound the Bowcaster does when fired in the Star Wars movies. There are dozens of other holocrons that you can collect, including one for a lightsaber. I couldn't find this one on my own, but did get to see a Sphero rep demonstrate it with his Force Band.

Raising your arm sets off the light saber extension sound and lowering it shuts it down. While in the light saber mode, you can make a slashing motion with the Force Band and it will make the sound of a light saber being used in battle. Too bad there’s no way right now for two Force Band owners to interactively battle. Yes, both can have a virtual lightsaber, but the two Force Bands will be unaware of each other.

The Force Band is rechargeable via a micro-USB port and offers 2 hours of continuous play for up to two days of passive play, which is when you walk around discovering hidden force disturbances and holocrons.

Is the Force Band a little pricey? Yes, but I still love it. Controlling BB-8 with subtle hand and arm motions is cool and makes you feel as if you have the force inside you. 

If you don’t already own a BB-8, $199.99 for the combo pack (which also includes a battle scarred charging base) is a decent deal and you will immediately make all your Star Wars-obsessed friends jealous.