The Essential Guide to Droids (Page 8-9)
Astromech: R2
[edit]- "No job is over this little guy's head."
- ―Ad slogan from the R2 product launch
With those bold words, the R2 unit moved from risky design concept to record-breaking phenomenon, dominating the small-droid market like a bantha at an Ewok picnic. Everyone, it seemed, wanted an R2, and for a time Industrial Automaton could do no wrong. As MechTech Illustrated put it, the new product was "one of the most versatile, multitalented droids we've ever seen. The R2 unit can do it all."
Like its forerunners, the R2 was designed to work in and around space vessels as a diagnostic and repair unit. Bui unlike the clunky P2 and R1 , this waist-high droid fit perfectly into the standard astromech socket of a military starfighter. This was a radical move-previously, all such droids had been dedicated government models. The R2 quickly became as popular with Old Republic fighter jocks as it was with the public al large.
When plugged into the rear of a Y-wing or X-wing, an R2 unit monitors flight performance, pinpoints and fixes technical problems, and boosts power from the shipboard systems. II can store up lo ten sets of hyperspace coordinates in active memory, and many have the intelligence to perform engine startup and pre-flight taxiing. Each R2 operates flawlessly in the vacuum of interstellar space.
The Intellex IV computer features over seven hundred different spacecraft configurations. The R2's sensor package is equally impressive, incorporating a full-spectrum transceiver and electromagnetic, heat, motion, and life-form detectors. The droid can also inspect small, enclosed spaces with an extendible- and fully maneuverable-video sensor.
Since the outer shell was streamlined, buyers were overwhelmed when they discovered the array of tools tucked away beneath the chassis. Standard equipment on an R2 includes two manipulator arms, an electric arc welder, a circular saw, a holographic projector, an internal cargo compartment, and a fire extinguisher. In addition, IA made the droids easy to adjust and upgrade-modified R2s have sported such diverse items as underwater propellers, laser pointers, zero-gee maneuvering jets, remote sensor limpets, and inflatable life rafts.
The R2's personality is obliging, quick-wilted, and sincere. If the droids go loo long without memory wipes they sometimes develop headstrong self-reliant streaks, but many owners actually I prefer to have companions willing to offer candid second opinions.
Sales of the R2 certainly haven't been hurt by the fact that the famed R2-D2 has become one of the most famous figures in the Galactic Civil War. So far, IA has not played up Artoo-Detoo's heroics in its advertisements — to avoid alienating New Republic leaders — but the R2 line remains the only vintage astromech series still in active production.
Info Boxes
[edit]Side View / Front View
[edit]- Grasping Arm Compartment
- Electromagnetic Field Sensor Unit Holographic Projector
- Auditory Sensors
- Processor State Indicator
- Radar Eye
- Access Panels
- Data Card Input
- Infrared Receptor
- Function Indicators
- Spacecraft Linkage Data Slot
- Computer Interface/Lubricant Arms Compartment
- Interference Pulse Stabilizers
- Spacecraft Linkage & Repair Arms
- Charge Arm
- Compartment
- Loudspeaker
- Third Tread (extended)
- Motorized Treads
- System Ventilation
- Recharge Coupling
- Power Cells