#9BB-8
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Program Astromech, Soccer Ball
BB-8 (or Beebee-Ate) is a droid character in the Star Wars franchise, appearing in both the 2015 Star Wars: The Force Awakens and 2017 Star Wars: The Last Jedi films. Spherical with a free-moving domed head, BB-8 is portrayed by both a rod puppet and a remote-controlled robotic unit.
BB-8 is a spherical robot with a free-moving domed head. It is white, with orange and silver accents and a black optical lens on its headpiece. BB-8 also possesses multiple panels containing various tools or ports. Scanlan said of the robot's personality, "We always imagined BB-8 as being quite manipulative. I think he knows he’s cute. He knows that he can win people over. And he uses that, like children do, to get his own way. In this film, he has a very important mission that he has to accomplish and so he uses his personality, his coyness, and all of those things." Of BB-8's gender he said, "I'm still not sure, dare I say, whether BB-8 is male or female ... BB-8 was female in our eyes. And then he or she became male. And that's all part of the evolution, not only visually, but in the way they move, how they hold themselves."
Calling the robot a "Swiss Army Knife that shouldn’t be trusted", he noted that while each of the BB-8's panels has a specific purpose, like a port or tool, not all of them have been absolutely defined to leave options for future films.
Trivia Ben Schwartz was recruited by J.J. Abrams to provide voice effects for BB-8 after the two met and became friends on the short-lived NBC show Undercovers (2010), where Schwartz was a supporting actor, and Abrams was an Executive Producer. Schwartz and co-voicer Bill Hader, a friend of both men, were asked by Abrams to not disclose their involvement in the film until it had its world premiere. They agreed, and Schwartz broke the news by posing for an Instagram post with him standing next to a BB-8 figure at the event.