Earlier this year, IBM Bluemix Technical Liaison Joshua Carr (@Josh_schwaa) became an internet sensation when he took his love of Star Wars to a new level by building a cloud application that allowed him to control a Sphero BB-8 toy robot – a miniature replica of the droid from Star Wars: The Force Awakens – using only an Emotiv Insight brainwave-scanning headset and the power of his mind.

In this interview with the New Builders podcast, Joshua walks through the process he took to bring together technology and magic, including bringing together key components of the project, from IBM Watson IoT to the IBM Bluemix cloud development platform (5:42); the role of the Emotiv Insight headset in translating his thoughts and movements into actions by his robot (9:40); how boilerplates from Bluemix enabled him to build everything in "two evenings and five beers" (13:58); and the role of the growing API economy in empowering developers to bring their good ideas into reality (26:05).

To learn how to bring The Force to life yourself using IBM Watson IoT, check out the recipe, "Control Sphero-BB8 by Voice through IBM Watson IoT Platform," on developerWorks.

IBM World of Watson (Oct. 24-27 in Las Vegas) will feature hands-on labs, activities and breakout sessions, all tailored to developers and builders like you. Sign up for "The New Builders: Ideas on Tap" Welcome Event (Sunday, Oct. 23, 5-7:30PM) or find out more about WoW at IBM.biz/wowfordevs.

The New Builders podcast listeners can obtain special discounts for the upcoming CloudNativeCon (Seattle, Nov. 8-9) event. For a discounted CloudNativeCon pass, register here with code CNC16IBMDW.

You can find new episodes of The New Builders on developerWorks TV and SoundCloud. Find out more about IBM Cloud Data Services at IBM.biz/forbuilders. Contact hosts Doug Flora and Jim Young on Twitter (@DSFlora, @JW_Young) or email ([email protected], [email protected]).

The show’s music is provided by School for Robots. Check them out at schoolforrobots.bandcamp.com!