Via adage.com:

Sphero, the five-year-old startup behind what is expected to be one of the hottest toys of the year, the app-controlled version of BB-8 from Disney’s “Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens,” is kicking production into high gear in preparation for holiday shopping.
BB-8, which looks like a soccer ball with a hemispheric head, is expected to behave a lot like the beloved R2-D2 in the new film, aiding companions and entertaining viewers. Some fans hunted the little droid as stores began selling out the same day it hit shelves — Sept. 4, denoted “Force Friday” by Walt Disney Co. and retailers — and the BB-8’s page is one of the most-visited among those for new “Star Wars” characters on fansite Wikia.
Sphero’s $150 BB-8, sold in packaging that resembles a shipping container, moves like the roving droid in the film and can be guided with a smartphone or tablet. The robot responds to voice commands, and records and plays videos — rendered to look like “Star Wars” holograms — through its smartphone app.
“It’s as close to a real droid as you can get today and it will continue to get better” said Rob Maigret, chief creative officer at Sphero and a former executive at Disney.
It’s the little details, like the fact that the BB-8 wanders on its own, that really make the toy feel like a companion.
“The BB-8, in part, it’s just cute and fun,” said Brian Linder, programming manager of entertainment at Wikia, who has a BB-8 of his own. “They’ve really done a great job of making it feel emotive and that’s really something special.”
The Boulder, Colo.-based Sphero, which builds connected and interactive toys, was thrust into the middle of the “Star Wars” fandom after entering the Disney Accelerator program for tech innovators in July 2014 and winning a bid to bring the droid to life late last year.

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