nej.
Enligt StarWars.com , förutsåg Abrams den tidiga designen själv.
When it came time to create a new astromech droid for the first film of a new Star Wars trilogy, director J.J. Abrams started as anyone might: he made a sketch on a napkin. It’s a fitting beginning, considering the handmade, warm look and feel of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The sketch was basic — two circles atop one another, with a tiny dot for an eye — but the core concept was there. And it was powerful enough to get the proverbial ball rolling for Lucasfilm concept designer Christian Alzmann. “J.J. wanted something rolling on a sphere, so I tried a lot of different designs developing that idea,” Alzmann says. “He would give direction on the kinds of shapes to use, and that led to a personality for the droid. Of course, the original sketch had very pleasing, round shapes, so you kind of figured it wasn’t going to be a very serious or angry character. Ultimately, BB-8 developed out of a back-and-forth process with J.J. where he gave feedback on each iteration of the design.”
December 2015-utgåvan av tidningen Populärvetenskap ger samma historia.
Popular Science: How was BB-8 conceived?
TFA Senior Animatronic Designer Josh Lee: It was J.J.'s idea. We first saw it as a sketch on a napkin that had been scanned and emailed over to us.
Vi kan inte bevisa att detta är sant, men det finns inte någon anledning att anta att det inte är.