(note: Wehave noticed a lot of people are finding this page first. If you'dlike to see the first/other R2 page clickhere.)
The truehero. It is amazing how we can become attracted to a tin can withpersonality. We actually started he little guy a number of years agoand put him aside due to lack of finances and time. It took five anda half years to collect the parts in order to build the little guy.After all of that collecting we finally had enough material and wasable to obligate just enough time to complete our baby. The followingare more pictures for you to enjoy.
Partially painted he looks like a garbage can but welove him anyway. In figuring out many of his measurements we comparedour own heights with those of the actors who have had the privilegeof working with the original. We feel we got very close.
Evenwithout the dome, our droid has personality. Looking inside the headyou can see we are already filling his brain with gadgets.
Left:Scanner dish. Rises and oscillates.
Right:Periscope. Rises and lights up. Total height when extended:5'6"
Frontwith green tape wrapped around it: Voice unit.
Manyhave asked how we get power from his body to his head. Our droid canspin his head continuously in either direction as there are no cablesconnecting his head to his body. The metal rings match up with thecontacts in the body and transfer the power and signals from thesource in the body to the head.
As youcan see his head actually extends into the body. This providessupport and also gives us room to do more with his head.
A lookat his insides. You can see his wiring and power terminals. We areusing card slots for his control boards. They hinge down to get outof the way of any internal repairs. His Switch 16s are on his'control cards'. The second one shows the lack of space once the legis pulled up into the body.
Thesepictures give you a quick look at the inside of his feet and hislegs. His wheels were custom cast and the batteries for his feet arein the inside pack detail of the foot. His legs have power windowmotors in the shoulders and a tension rod in order to keep the ankletaut when he's upright.
Thefirst year we had him out at Toronto Trek (1999) he had blown a speedcontroller.
The R2Builder's Group has asked us to make a book of our designs andschematics. We have done this and still have some copies left. If youare interested just emailusfor details.
