The Star Wars Force Band is a cute little gadget. It’s fun for controlling your BB-8 robot by waving your arm around, even if it does make it run into walls a little more than we’d like. Today, Sphero has switched on IFTTT support for the Force Band, so you can use it to switch on your lights or play The Imperial March on your stereo.
This is the Force Band:
Today’s update, though, adds features on top of the existing BB-8 control and its extra little gimmicks like flicking your wrist to fire a blaster. The Force Band now supports IFTTT recipes for each of its three gestures, explained simply in this YouTube video:
If you’re a dab hand with If This Then That, then you’ll already know what it can do; any other Internet-connected, IFTTT-supported device that you have like a Philips Hue can be hooked in through the service, and linked to different Force Band gestures — you could unlock your Bluetooth front door lock via Force Push, or Force Pull to tell your Bluetooth speakers to crank some John Williams tunes.
Here’s the complete guide from Sphero on how to set up Force Control and IFTTT. The Force Band itself will set you back $139 — although you can find it on sale cheaper — and the BB-8 kit with the Force Band is around $349. [Sphero]