My Own BB-8
WB8 is a droid created on the third planet (Earth) in the settlement known as Edmonton in the WrightBuilt.ca workshop. The WB designation identifies the droid as a modified BB design.
Hello, Stephen here to describe My Own BB-8 project.
Introduction:
In the fall of 2024, I was surprised when I attended Edmonton’s Comic Con (Fan Expo) to see someone could build a ‘real’ BB8 droid. Not only was the BB8 rolling around the Edmonton Expo Centre here built by a regular person, but that person lived only a few miles away. If he could make a BB8, I figured I could too.
Step One:
The first step I did was to collect as much information as possible. I did not know where to start or how I would make my WB8.
Step Two:
In hindsight, I would not recommend a BB8 droid as the first thing you 3D print. But, luckily Alexander was able to help me out and get the body and dome of my droid printed.
Step Three:
I wanted to be able to see how I could control the movement and then I would go back and add the mechanical internals to the droid.
I picked Arduino boards to be the ‘brains’ and XBee to be the ‘communications’.
Read Build Log - Have Arduino, Will Travel (on how I organized my workspace)
Step Four:
Making the drivetrain.
Step Five:
Painting and finishing - I wanted to make sure my WB8 moved and operated how I wanted before I spent time and resources on making the droid look like part of Star Wars. The only decision I made was to used White as the main color, with Red (color of X-wing squadron) and Blue (color of R2D2) as the accents.
For further information:
While I am building my version of BB8, I will be documenting what I have learned to share with you. If you would like to know anything about my process or progress, please contact me; form or email - info.wrightbuilt.ca@gmail.com