jj abrams , the film 's director , confirmed that a real robot was used during filming , but did not reveal how it works .
the robot , called bb-8 -lrb- left -rrb- stars in the eagerly anticipated film star wars : the force awakens and took to the stage at star wars celebration convention in anaheim , california , where it literally ran rings around retro .
it 's a question that 's got twitter talking , with a user named jock tweeting .