Every Christmas there's one toy that causes holiday mayhem - a must-have that seems almost impossible for desperate parents to get their hands on. But what goes into making a global best-seller? The stakes will be high for parents whose children have Fingerlings on their holiday wish-lists as they head into the final weekend before Christmas. The miniature chirping animatronic monkeys, inspired by the world's smallest primate - the pygmy marmoset - are one of this season's runaway hits and can be tough to find. WowWee, the Hong Kong-based Canadian company behind the robotic toy, says Fingerlings were the brainchild of brand manager Sydney Wiseman, who saw the tiny primates online on a viral social media post and recognised a toy in the making.

Its eyes, a complex configuration of cyan dots on a black, rounded screen of a face, sleepily open and it lets out a digitised approximation of a yawn. A compact device that looks like a blend of a forklift truck and PC monitor bred for maximum cuteness, the robot rolls blearily off its charging station on a pair of dinky treads before tilting its screen-face and noticing I'm there. Its eyes widen, then curve at the bottom as if making way for an unseen smile. "Daaaaan!" it announces with a happy jiggle, sounding not unlike Pixar Animation Studios' lovable robot creation, Wall-E. A message flashes up on my iPhone telling me that it, or rather he (being the gender that its manufacturer, Anki, has assigned Cozmo) wants to play a game. Cozmo's head droops, his eyes form into a pair of sadly reclining crescent moons and he sighs. But he quickly cheers up, giving a happy jiggle when I comply with his request for a fist bump and tap my knuckles against his eagerly raised arm.

Star Wars fans – and their wallets – are set to feel the Force like never before. Toy-makers and tech companies have unveiled the latest line-up of Star Wars gadgets ahead of Force Friday II, with everything from augmented reality headsets to your own personal R2-D2, complete with holographic simulations. The haul, which will become available September 1, also includes a peek at characters set to become fan favorites in the upcoming installment, The Last Jedi, revealing BB-8's evil counterpart BB-9E, and the adorable wide-eyed Porgs. The engineers behind BB8 said when they were first presented with the challenge of creating a spherical robot by the Force Awakens director JJ Abrahms, they found several ways of creating the robot. One they settled on was to create a pendulum that sites inside the main body of the robot.

The cute spherical BB-8 was one of the many highlights of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and Spin Master's near life-size replica of him was one of our favorite things about last year's Toy Fair. Unfortunately, 2016 came and went without seeing the adorable robotic companion on the silver screen -- or this particular toy on store shelves. That looks to change later this year with the announced release of the $230 Hero Droid BB-8, just in time for the bot's appearance in the next episode of the Star Wars saga. On the surface, BB-8 appears to be the same droid from last year, with a plastic build modeled after its cinematic counterpart, even down to the traces of wear and tear. It's composed of two distinct pieces -- a round ball of a body and a half-sphere head.