 Hey everybody, this is Ross Miller with The Verge. It is CES 2016 and I am here with Adam Wilson, the co-founder and chief scientist of Sphero. Adam, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you so much for having me. So let's talk about this week. Obviously, BBA's been out for a little bit. And how has it been so far? Actually, how has the BBA been so far? The BBA launch was absolutely incredible. It blew us away in every aspect from the fan reaction to just how crazy everybody's been about it. That's awesome. And I want to talk about what you're here for now, which is the Force Band. This is this wearable you're working on. Yeah, so you can control the BBA through your smartphone with an app and drive it around and have it patrol and stuff. We thought there was a cooler way to kind of experience the Force in a new way. So we wanted to make a wearable wristband that you could control the BBA through just that. Why make your own wearable? Why not integrate this with like an Apple Watch or a Samsung smartwatch or something like that? I think just control over the experience really. And the whole Apple Watch and Samsung watch, those are pretty expensive items. And I don't think a lot of children are going to be running around with those. So it gives the accessibility to the lower price range. And what is the price range? We haven't described it yet, but we're working really hard on making that affordable for everybody. Okay, perfect. What's interesting about this? So is this going to work for the other Sphero products as well? Is this something we can kind of say is going toward the future? This is what Sphero wants to try? I'd say Sphero is going to try other wearable items. This band is specifically for the experience of the Star Wars BB-8 droid. So this one's tied directly to this and only to this. But Sphero in general, we're going to get much better at making wearables after we put this into the market. And we'll probably make a wearable for the rest of our products. And I want to talk a little about Sphero's business in general, because obviously BB-8 is not your first product at all. And you guys are going through a much other phases. Basically what you had before, the big flagship Sphero, was the ball without the head. Obviously, it's done very well like this. But when you're going forward, do you see more of these branded ideas of something like you really want to take the company? Or are you looking to also keep to your roots? We're going to do both. We've realized that we're pretty good at bringing characters to life. We can bring a character to life in a way that I don't think other people have. So we think that that's really important for us to bring characters to life. But we also have a whole new technology stack that we're going to be pushing soon that is just kind of the next version of Sphero. It's the next version of all of this stuff. It was interesting to me when you guys were announcing the BB-8 and we kind of met with you guys, you made a point talking about how this is not just a toy. This is a robot. This is something we see has more than just entertainment purposes. Can you talk me over what that means for Sphero's roadmap? Where were you guys going to see taking your products? Yeah, I think with the head on and all of a sudden everybody thinks he's super cute and he's a cute little friend or a companion or something. And that's almost like the match of what you, when you talk to somebody about an animal or a pet or like a cat or a dog, they have that same feeling. They can't really explain why they think it's so cute and why they love it so much. So that's part of what we're trying to really, really focus in on is like those characteristic personalities of the robot. What else can we expect from Sphero? We haven't announced any of our other products, but those will probably be at CES next year. So we'll be able to give a sneak peek of what that is. But you can just expect it to be really the next version of what we would do. We've kind of reached the maximum of character potential in a robot ball. So there's going to be more from us. Well, Adam, thank you so much for joining us. Yeah, thank you very much. And for all things BB-8, all things Star Wars and all things Consumer Electronics Show, be sure to check out theverge.com or subscribe to YouTube. We'll do more things like this, youtube.com slash theverge.
 Hey everybody, this is Ross Miller with The Verge.
 It is CES 2016 and I am here with Adam Wilson, the co-founder and chief scientist of Sphero.
 Adam, thank you so much for joining us.
 Thank you so much for having me.
 So let's talk about this week.
 Obviously, BBA's been out for a little bit.
 And how has it been so far?
 Actually, how has the BBA been so far?
 The BBA launch was absolutely incredible.
 It blew us away in every aspect from the fan reaction to just how crazy everybody's been
 about it.
 That's awesome.
 And I want to talk about what you're here for now, which is the Force Band.
 This is this wearable you're working on.
 Yeah, so you can control the BBA through your smartphone with an app and drive it around
 and have it patrol and stuff.
 We thought there was a cooler way to kind of experience the Force in a new way.
 So we wanted to make a wearable wristband that you could control the BBA through just
 that.
 Why make your own wearable?
 Why not integrate this with like an Apple Watch or a Samsung smartwatch or something
 like that?
 I think just control over the experience really.
 And the whole Apple Watch and Samsung watch, those are pretty expensive items.
 And I don't think a lot of children are going to be running around with those.
 So it gives the accessibility to the lower price range.
 And what is the price range?
 We haven't described it yet, but we're working really hard on making that affordable for
 everybody.
 Okay, perfect.
 What's interesting about this?
 So is this going to work for the other Sphero products as well?
 Is this something we can kind of say is going toward the future?
 This is what Sphero wants to try?
 I'd say Sphero is going to try other wearable items.
 This band is specifically for the experience of the Star Wars BB-8 droid.
 So this one's tied directly to this and only to this.
 But Sphero in general, we're going to get much better at making wearables after we put
 this into the market.
 And we'll probably make a wearable for the rest of our products.
 And I want to talk a little about Sphero's business in general, because obviously BB-8
 is not your first product at all.
 And you guys are going through a much other phases.
 Basically what you had before, the big flagship Sphero, was the ball without the head.
 Obviously, it's done very well like this.
 But when you're going forward, do you see more of these branded ideas of something like
 you really want to take the company?
 Or are you looking to also keep to your roots?
 We're going to do both.
 We've realized that we're pretty good at bringing characters to life.
 We can bring a character to life in a way that I don't think other people have.
 So we think that that's really important for us to bring characters to life.
 But we also have a whole new technology stack that we're going to be pushing soon that is
 just kind of the next version of Sphero.
 It's the next version of all of this stuff.
 It was interesting to me when you guys were announcing the BB-8 and we kind of met with
 you guys, you made a point talking about how this is not just a toy.
 This is a robot.
 This is something we see has more than just entertainment purposes.
 Can you talk me over what that means for Sphero's roadmap?
 Where were you guys going to see taking your products?
 Yeah, I think with the head on and all of a sudden everybody thinks he's super cute
 and he's a cute little friend or a companion or something.
 And that's almost like the match of what you, when you talk to somebody about an animal
 or a pet or like a cat or a dog, they have that same feeling.
 They can't really explain why they think it's so cute and why they love it so much.
 So that's part of what we're trying to really, really focus in on is like those characteristic
 personalities of the robot.
 What else can we expect from Sphero?
 We haven't announced any of our other products, but those will probably be at CES next year.
 So we'll be able to give a sneak peek of what that is.
 But you can just expect it to be really the next version of what we would do.
 We've kind of reached the maximum of character potential in a robot ball.
 So there's going to be more from us.
 Well, Adam, thank you so much for joining us.
 Yeah, thank you very much.
 And for all things BB-8, all things Star Wars and all things Consumer Electronics Show,
 be sure to check out theverge.com or subscribe to YouTube.
 We'll do more things like this, youtube.com slash theverge.