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Also keep in mind the deal Disney has with Hasbro. You could almost guarantee they where given direct access to the movie files and any physical props that probably had most of the engineering and design worked out. Hasbro’s job was most likely just to find a way to turn a $10-$100,000 movie prop into a toy using the least amount of injection cast and to reduce the cost to a few dollar per unit mfg.
@@ThatVideoGuyTom Optimus uses exactly the opposite method. Strings of tiny servos controlled by a serial network and a sophisticated central computer board.. The company make a whole series of robots that all use the same basic system.. They are currently working on a Buzz Lightyear toy that also looks incredibly impressive.
Just found this account again after being a huge fan of Mythbusters as a kid. Met Adam twice and never forgot it!! Happy to see that the person who made me love science is doing well.
The mechanics of the motor and how it does the different sections is such simplistic genius. It reminds me of those old 'what does the cow say' toys where you pull the string, and all the dial does is select a track on a thick plastic record, yet so much more complex
I worry about the state of Industrial Robots in that case. Powered by AI? You must be Lucasfilms target audience. I have lost hope in the human race. We used to go to the moon, have supersonic airliners. Now a cheap Star Wars gimick impresses an AI robotics engineer. God help us
Teddy Ruxpin came out in 1985 -- 37 years ago --- this is a minimal step forward. A couple sensors & some servos is one of the most impressive things youve ever seen? No wonder this is the extent of 40 years of technology. We need more drive & imagination as a society. I find this a lazy cash grab with zero ambition. Its an excuse to slap Star Wars on something. Its a pet rock with batteries.
All my childhood franchises have been destroyed by idiots in Lucasfilm and Bad Robot. My childhood toys though are in perfect condition, ready to sell on ebay as I have had enough of the destruction of the last few years
perhaps your adult self is getting in its own way. when you were a kid you had no pre-conceived notions and star wars could penetrate to your deeper layers. you could ignore the corny light saber fighting and the often off-beat acting. now as an adult everything is compared to things that were seemingly "perfect", the way they were in your childhood. release yourself from comparing the new stuff to the old stuff. each new piece of star wars media is produced by vast teams of highly skilled individuals. the world is in flux. that flux is incredibly fun if you whip out a surf board and catch the wave. wishes of good fortune and fate for you comrade.
Ahaha. I saw a video review of L0-LA last night and bought one this morning an hour ago. She's on my desk chattering away while I'm wondering what was going on inside, and thought "I should check on Tested, I bet Adam's already looked". You never disappoint.
That little slip-ring assembly is called a mode switch. they have been using this type of control in VHS VCRs for many years! It controls the transmission that drives all the cogs and assemblies. A very clever way to do a lot of things with minimal electronics! The other problem is, they are very difficult to get back into the correct position after removing them, in mid-cycle. _good luck_ putting the entire toy back together again. The mode switch must be placed in the correct orientation to be in time with the computer's logic. Once you lose that registration with the various function gearing, it will be very difficult to get everything back in sync again with the mode switch, the motor, and the software logic.
cool toy, and a good explainer piece on how it functions. they've used this type of mechanism in VHS VCRs in order to need fewer motors, electronics, and gears to do the same functions.
That reminds me of the editing VCRs we used to have with the dial on it that could switch the speeds of the playback from frame by frame all the way to 2X FF. We wore so many of those VCRs out using frame advance to live edit commercials out of our archived TV show tapes.
The way I had to watch this video as audio only, because I pack bond to Star Wars Companion Droids so quickly and personifies them. You tore apart the babyyy noooo haha!! I would not be able to survive through the visuals of you doing this to R2-D2 or BB-8 toys either.
I, for one, would like to see the follow-up video putting it back together. It seems like they keyed a bunch of these parts so the electronics should all behave correctly relative to the gearing from the motor, but there's a portion of this that's like disassembling an internal combustion motor, wherein one sets the pistons/cams to "top dead center" first so that everything can come apart and go back together in the right way.
When I was little, the first thing I did when I got a new toy, was take it apart, just like this, to See how it Worked and How it was Made. It's Great to know I wasn't the Only One who did this.
You guys are having so much fun pulling it apart. Meanwhile all I can hear in the back of my head is "There's no way I'm going to be able to put this back together and still have it work!" 😅
@@bryannorris8049 They amusingly note they'll have to watch the video in reverse to put the thing back together again. I'll believe it when I see it! 😁
Adam: This is an incredibly intricate clock work toy... 'Aight, I'ma head out. Good luck putting it back together, Norm. I joke but yeah, that's a wild design for a simple little toy. You'd think it would just be three or four tiny motors and a PCB that tells them all to randomly actuate.
Thanks for this video. There was a screw I forgot to label and this saved me. Interestingly enough, I was also having trouble separating the "wings" by sheer luck, I found out that it can just pop off right off of that springed, plastic bracket. After that, the main internals came off the top body easily. It was way easier than unscrewing it all while constrained in the body. ❤❤
Now I'm conflicted. On the one hand it is so satisfying to see them put something together, but now, after seeing this, it was cool seeing them tear something apart. Yes, I did that too as a kid. lol I put a Lo-la on my Christmas list rather than trying to make it. lol I wonder if someone will take a Lo-la and repaint/adapt it into a Batteries Not Included figure? I've seen the 3D prints...
This was fascinating! I have three of these as I'm so amazed at how wonderful the animations are on this Lola. I've wondered what was on the inside and now I don't have to take mine apart to find out as I wouldn't have had the heart to disassemble her.
Surprisingly sturdy! Mine slipped out of my hands and fell about 4 feet onto a plank floor. Skittered upside down along the floor another 3 feet or so. Still works fine, and I couldn’t find a scratch on it!
Thank you Lad's for this excellent tear down review. As a retired engineer and avid Robot/ Droid collector it was nice to see the combination of modern electronics, a dedicated microprocessor and an old style sequencer switch and mechanical cams and links. I have recently acquired one of these cheeky little Lola Droids and I am enjoying it immensely, we have great conversations.( I really must get out more and try talking too these humans?) and thanks again for my future reference video.
You guys and gals are killing it with the the daily content - thank you!!! It's really nice to have a diversion to look forward to each day, not only that it's the most fantabulous maker and mental wellness content on YT. Adam and crew keep up the great stuff! Thanks from the Great White North aka Canuckistania!
My son got to hold the production sample at celebration anaheim! Then we turn around and there is Norm interviewing hasbro about the reva lightsaber (that unfortunately failed to fund). Great times!
The iFixit mat and tray looks very useful. I've got one of their older project mats - about the size of a mousepad, in dry-erase white - and it's very nice for keeping small (ferromagnetic) parts from wandering off. It's built very much one of those flexible fridge magnets, but with the stronger force upwards; I actually keep mine stuck, face down, on the front of the refrigerator (because my workbench is usually the kitchen counter or on top of the stove).
The principles may be old, but it's amazing how much very modern tech lends itself to this kind of mechanical solution. I know Disney has software tools for automatically turning animation into cam patterns (used for Disneyland animatronics). Whether or not they collaborated with Hasbro on the technical side would be an interesting question. And then of course these days we have 3D printing, facilitating and accelerating mechanical trial-and-error in ways a 19th-century automaton designer could only dream of.
I think LOLA was inspired by a Ladybug. The wings are similar. Good luck getting it back together. LMAO. I love the way the designers have not only done great animatronics, but also child-proofed it, so it's can theoretically be put back together if a child pulls off the wings etc. I'd love one of these. Genius electronics/mechanics.
This vid brought me back to my childhood when my Dad would be yelling at me for "breaking" my and my brother´s toys... and then be amazed when after he tried and failed I could put them back together.. I was 10 or so... later I studied engineering and graphic arts and now I do "innovative solutions", or as Adam proudly defines it " I´m a maker ".
Imagine being the engineering team that worked so hard on making this toy, which would normally go unnoticed, and having Adam being the one to tear it down and being giddy over its design. Also, I would LOVE a Weebo like this haha.
Disney needs to calm down, this is absoloutly hands down based off of the batteries not included robot with legs, Its kind of ridiculous how they did it but, who am I to say something Dont mean for this to be hating but love the vids great work!
This design is so much more complex than anything I imagined to see in a "simple" toy. I guess I can see now why these Lolas were so expensive on launch. Good thing they're always on clearance (probably didn't sell too well for $85)
NORM!!! (cheers!) Automotan was my first thought too - like a little music box with cams on a rotating disk? Or a player piano! Does anyone remember James Burke going through the history of the cam/shaft/clockwork mechanisms? Connections or The Day The Universe Changed.... I need to rewatch both, again!
_One Day Unbuild._ Some modern toys are amazing. I remember this bts of _Labyrinth,_ one of my favorite childhood movies, and now you can have that Henson animatronics at home.
I bet you stick most of these mechanisms and functionality into a life-sized Lothcat. I'd buy the hell out of a Lothcat that sits, tilts its head when you talk to it, meows occasionally, blinks, and moves its ears.
I'm into geared mechanisms like this, Like those found in old mechanical/electro-mechanical TOMY toys. Even the Furby operated in a similar fashion as this.
I believe that the original Furby and perhaps the later ones also operated with just one motor and a complex gearing and cam system in order to move the ears, eye lids mouth and body motion. I just bought a Lo-La59 and am even more impressed with its actions. I still think it should have a Bluetooth system to communicate with the other Disney Star Wars droids.
Question: Was the engineering done by US Hasbro staff or entirely in China where it is made. Also, how do they work out the assembly process so even skilled but more likely unskilled workers can put it together so quickly?
These are on sale right now. Got one today because I've been wanting to make one, and I can't go build build one at the Droid Depot in Galaxy's Edge. Thinking about painting it.
What a wonderful video!! I really want one of these, but I'd like to take it apart so I can repaint it to make it look less toylike. This way I can disassemble it and know how it's supposed to go back together so I can repaint it without fear of gunking up the workings or getting paint on the speaker or clear plastic parts.
that capacitor looking thing is actually a thermistor, its basically resettable fuse , a must in all kids toys, there is probably also a diode in case someone put the batteries the wrong way
CIRCUIT BEND IT!! Haha that'd be awesome. I'm not sure how into music is or if he's heard of circuit bending before but I think it's something he may get a kick out of learning about and seeing some of the things people have made.
When I saw it for the first time, I thought it was going to a static toy, so I really wanted one to disassemble, and then paint and weather up, but considering they're $100 here in Denmark, I wasn't going to buy them right now. It's awesome to see it has movements as well, and might justify it for me
Hey Adam, Wouldn't it be cool to make a Lola out of a small or even larger 4 or 6 bladed drone. Could even be programmable . Just an idea. Love the show. Thanks Scooter
fascinating and I didn’t think you would reassemble it. I think there would be a new video putting it on stanchions of the breakdown. I think that would be a cool one day build of the breakdown of this toy list and they display case
FYI: That’s not a stepper motor; it’s just a regular brushed DC motor. A stepper would require more than two wires going to it (these days, you’ll typically find four wires, but occasionally there’s five or six and rarely three).
This is great engineering. I can see why the toy retailed for $90 at release; I just picked it up on clearance for $40. It is adorable. Also, did Adam misspeak at 25:26? This toy is 1:1 scale, it is not larger than the filming prop.
Those really tiny remote control tanks that were around a few years ago use the same trick. One motor switches the drive between forward reverse, and turn left turn right, and i think turret turn. A second motor powers the tracks and rotations.
So she's currently around 64% off on UK and US Amazon, so I had to get her for my Mando cosplay! I'm really happy with her, and delighted at seeing how excited Adam got taking her apart, but I am a little confused about your chat on scale? The box advertises it as 1:1 scale, but Norm suggests it's as much as 50% bigger? That really confused me, but it certainly does look a little bigger, as the prop one fit in kid Leia's hand and this one barely fits in my adult hand. Just seems odd that they'd market it as such. Anyway, very happy with her, just hoping I can easily swap out the LED's for different colours, and potentially install a more accessible on/off and audio/silent buttons for it.
The little brown disc in the battery cable is a PTC "fuse", a self-resetting solid state fuse such as a Polyswitch, presumably to try and avoid damage to the motors if anything is overloaded. Anyone else have a bit of deja-vu with the "Batteries not included" machines?
