DIY Friday: Dude, Where’s My Droid?
If you’re like some of us here at Really Rocket Science, you look back upon 1977 as a watershed year — a year when, for the first time, you realized what you wanted more than anything else in the world.
And what you wanted, of course, was to be Luke Skywalker. Or maybe Han Solo. At the very least, you wanted to have your own droid — a faithful mechanical friend like R2-D2.
Fast forward nearly thirty years. Dude, where’s my droid? Technology and industry haven’t exactly delivered the type of personal-pal robot that we saw in Star Wars.
But there’s no need to wait any longer. Want a droid? Do it yourself at Astromech.net.
Astromech has a complete tutorial page that will help you build your droid — with instructions and real-world experiences on every part, from the dome to the feet to the lights and and cute little R2-D2-like sounds.
For inspiration, be sure to check out the photogalleries of droids built by other fans. There’s even a video section showing close-ups of completed droids beeping and blinking in action, and (as an added bonus) this video of droid bloopers taken from the original filming of Star Wars.
The articles section of the Astromech site is a fine place to idle a few hours away before you get to work on your droid (you are going to get to work, aren’t you?); we recommend taking a quick gander at this review of the original R2-D2 robot from the December, 1977 Electronics Today.
