Force Friday is the day that Star Wars fans can finally get their hands on the new range of toys, and given the wonderful toys that Disney has been creating, it's an exciting day indeed.
This year Force Friday II is on September 1, and brings with it the release of one of the coolest educational toys we’ve ever seen. A collaboration between Disney and littleBits, the Droid Inventor Kit allows you to make and program your very own R2-D2.
LittleBits is an award winning company that aims to break down the barriers in learning STEAM (science, technology, Engineering, Art, Mathematics) skills, all essential skills for working in emerging technological markets.
That’s a really dense way of saying littleBits make awesome modular robots that you can customize to do your bidding. For a fun little video explaining what that means, check out this from litteBits:
When you put that into an R2 Unit, that means you have a Droid of your own making that can accompany you on over 16 pre-planned missions, speaking to you as only R2 can, with 20 authentic sounds from the films.
In the box you get 20 ‘Droid parts’ so you can put R2 together, 3 sticker sheets to make him look the way you want, and 6 ‘Bits’ so that he’ll behave the way you want him to.
You also get the free littleBits Droid Inventor app so that you can get instructions on how to create and customize your R2. The app also includes challenges to ‘promote creativity and customization using household items’.
You can use the app to steer your little Droid, you can set it off in Self-Nav mode and watch it cleverly avoid obstacles, or unleash your inner Jedi and move it using The Force.
The Droid Inventor Kit is available for $99.95 (£99.99, AU$159.95) from Amazon, The Disney Store, Apple Stores, and more.
- Want to know more about Force Friday II? Check out our piece about the Star Wars AR game.
