Some thoughts about BB-8's movement

[kresty]

TLDR: The hamster wheels point toward each other, on the same circle of the sphere.

Most of this has been stated, but I thought I'd summarize my observations about movement.

* BB-8's head moved up & down, even when parked
* When slightly down (peering), BB-8's head can move left & right.
* The head can also rotate to look left and right without changing it's position.

With those different freedoms of movement, BB-8 can look at things she drives around, or look elsewhere.

The body has it's own movements:

* It appears to be Omni-directional, being able to move in any direction, however her head is usually pretty close to the direction of movement, turning if need be.
* The body can rotate without turning the head, which surprised me. 

Since the body can move any direction, it appears to have some sort of hamster car with a holonomic drive.  It could be 2 wheels like the sphero, but 3 is more common.  Being able to rotate the body without turning the head implies to me that the wheels are inline with the same circle of the sphere... which is unusual for holonomic drives, which often have 3 or 4 omni-wheels pointing away from each other instead of toward each other.

The head's movement appears consistent with a post from the hamster, which can bend in the middle to make the head move up & down, and can rotate both the entire post, to make the head turn from side-to-side, and rotate above the joint, to make the head rotate from side to side.

All in all BB-8 has a huge freedom of movement.

[Toby]

Interesting thoughts!