MANILA, Philippines - A 17-year-old Physics student from De La Salle University (DLSU) successfully recreated a smartphone-controlled life-size BB-8 using household items and Arduino circuitry.
According to a report by Gadget Match, the young Filipino behind the fully functional BB-8 is Angelo Casimiro. He wasn’t much of a Star Wars fanatic yet the latest movie, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, inspired his latest project.
“When I saw BB-8 in the movie, it was like love at first sight. He was just so adorable! BB8’s spherical design also intrigued me, how it worked,” he told Gadget Match.
Coming from a family of scientists, Casimiro became interested in electronics because of his grandfather. Since the age of 4, Casimiro has been building DIY gizmos and gadgets and has been making DIY tutorial YouTube videos for almost 5 years. A National Robotics champion, Casimiro has participated in several international competitions such as the International Robotics Olympiad and the Google Science Fair.
In order to build BB-8, he used some items commonly found in the house such as a Christmas ball for the eye, an old router antenna for the antenna, a deodorant cap for the mic as well as roll-on deodorant balls for BB-8’s mechanisms. Casimiro had to shell out $120 for the project, which is still cheaper compared to Sphero’s miniature BB-8 Droid.
Casimiro’s creation rolls, patrols and makes droid sounds similar to the one in the movie and its Sphero counterparts. However, it doesn’t respond to voice commands yet and doesn’t have hologram capabilities.
Compared to his other projects, the droid isn’t as useful and practical yet it can be used to make spherical vehicles. Since his creation will be featured on TV soon, Casimiro is working to improve the droid’s stability.
The young Filipino inventor considers BB-8 as his favorite project yet he still has projects lined up for his channel including The Portable Fridge Lunchbox, The DIY Bluetooth Boombox and The Portaverter (220v power bank). In the future, Casimiro intends to mass manufacture a Filipino-made solar-powered car.
“I get the ideas from things around me. I’m just thankful God gave me a mind creative enough for the knowledge I have for making things,” he added.
Here’s the full DIY tutorial to build BB-8.
-Mini/The Summit Express
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Angelo Casimiro with his latest project: a smartphone-controlled life-size BB-8.
PHOTO CREDIT: YouTube/Techbuilder
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“When I saw BB-8 in the movie, it was like love at first sight. He was just so adorable! BB8’s spherical design also intrigued me, how it worked,” he told Gadget Match.
Coming from a family of scientists, Casimiro became interested in electronics because of his grandfather. Since the age of 4, Casimiro has been building DIY gizmos and gadgets and has been making DIY tutorial YouTube videos for almost 5 years. A National Robotics champion, Casimiro has participated in several international competitions such as the International Robotics Olympiad and the Google Science Fair.
In order to build BB-8, he used some items commonly found in the house such as a Christmas ball for the eye, an old router antenna for the antenna, a deodorant cap for the mic as well as roll-on deodorant balls for BB-8’s mechanisms. Casimiro had to shell out $120 for the project, which is still cheaper compared to Sphero’s miniature BB-8 Droid.
Casimiro’s creation rolls, patrols and makes droid sounds similar to the one in the movie and its Sphero counterparts. However, it doesn’t respond to voice commands yet and doesn’t have hologram capabilities.
Compared to his other projects, the droid isn’t as useful and practical yet it can be used to make spherical vehicles. Since his creation will be featured on TV soon, Casimiro is working to improve the droid’s stability.
The young Filipino inventor considers BB-8 as his favorite project yet he still has projects lined up for his channel including The Portable Fridge Lunchbox, The DIY Bluetooth Boombox and The Portaverter (220v power bank). In the future, Casimiro intends to mass manufacture a Filipino-made solar-powered car.
“I get the ideas from things around me. I’m just thankful God gave me a mind creative enough for the knowledge I have for making things,” he added.
Here’s the full DIY tutorial to build BB-8.
-Mini/The Summit Express
