BB-8 Droid

Inspiration

Star Wars inspired us.

What it does

The BB-8 droid navigates its environment based on its user's gaze. The user simply has to change their gaze and the BB-8 will follow their eye-gaze.

How we built it

We built it with an RC car kit placed into a styrofoam sphere. The RC car was created with an Arduino and Raspberry Pi. The Arduino controlled the motor controllers, while the Raspberry Pi acted as a Bluetooth module and sent commands to the Arduino. A separate laptop was used with eye-tracking glasses from AdHawk to send data to the Raspberry Pi.

Challenges we ran into

We ran into issues with the magnets not being strong enough to keep BB-8's head on. We also found that BB-8 was too top-heavy, and the RC car on the inside would sometimes roll over, causing the motors to spin out and stop moving the droid.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud of being able to properly develop the communication stack with Bluetooth. It was complex connecting the Arduino -> Raspberry Pi -> Computer -> Eye-tracking glasses.