Gizmodo
Chris James' R2-D2 won four Make Magazine editors' choice ribbons at Maker Faire and it's easy to see why: not only does it have every detail from the original—except having a little person inside—but this one is even more charming, capable of singing the Star Wars theme, and Indiana Jones sound bites. It only needs to have a built-in projector to be absolutely perfect. We asked Chris about the obvious next step: installing sensory inputs and artificial intelligence to make it truly autonomous. His take—and another video of R2 dancing with kids at Maker Faire—after the jump.
Chris James' R2-D2 won four Make Magazine editors' choice ribbons at Jesús Díaz: Have you tried to give your astromech droid actual "droid" powers? You know, like some complex sensory input and artificial intelligence, at least at the AIBO level.
Chris James: One of the top questions we get is, are they autonomous or can they be retrofitted with the electronics from the little interactive R2 from Hasbro. The simple answer is yes they can be or could be done, but (and it's a big but) would you want a 200lb aluminum droid running around bumping into things? At a convention or show full of kids it would be incredibly dangerous.
Even something small like the holo projector eye twitching could poke an eye out as kids look into them all the time. I've been at events where we've had frequency issues and it's incredible scary when a droid starts tearing off when you're not expecting it.
Having said that, there are a number of people working on AI R2's, mostly powered by Leaf.
JD: Are you planning to add them yourself in the future, though?
CJ: My droid is powered by a bunch of small PIC micro processors, so not a huge amount of processing power but I may add some sensor/intelligence, like rotation dome/tracking, and syncing sound to people talking to him. But I'd make it optional and under my control when I want it to be autonomous. So if people were at a distance he could track movement and respond with sounds.
JD: Seeing your R2-D2—and looking at current toy robotics—actually makes me believe that there's a possibility of having a Maybe not capable of calculating hyperspace jumps, but good enough to order him things using speech, rather than a remote. Do you think we will see multifunction droids in the spirit of R2 coming from companies any time soon?
CJ: I'm really not a robotics expert by any stretch of the imagination, but from what I see we're there right now in some area, but I can't see people owning cheap AI droids like C3PO or Artoo in our lifetime. It would be nice, but I just can't see Asimo gaining enough intelligence at a price we can all afford.
I would be quite happy to have this one combined with an HD projector, all speech controlled. [Artoo Detoo—Video by Brian Lam]
Comments
Wow. Pretty...friggin'...awesome.
amazing - has someone done hos mate 3PO yet?
getting it some A.I would be fabulous.
and to be fair probably more comapny than thise weird things they are building for the Japanese old folks.
Did they ever ask for them?
yeah - but can it pick the lock at an Imperial Shield Generator Station ?
What would be sad is if someone addeed AI abilities to R2 and then he turned out like the evil robots from the Terminator_
N3RDs
@uberfu: THAT WOULD BE FREAKIN' AWESOME!!!!!!!
That second video is a riot. That's hilarious. LOL Kind of nerdy but this is Star Wars!
I always wanted my own Astromech Droid.
R2 has fatal flaw, doesn't bring beer from fridge.
he's too clean to be r2
Wait, Star Wars is for nerds?! Next you're going to say women don't love my action figure collection and acid washed jeans....Naw, that'll never happen.
holy creaming-cargo-pants!
Naked people on the internet are better than the real thing!
No, wait...
This little guy's actually pretty neat, a very impressive effort on Mr. James's behalf. However, due to the uselessness factor, I'd buy it for $109.99, no more.
Incorrect - at least according to Star Wars Apocrypha. R2-D2 was an off-the-shelf astromech droid. Threepio was the DIY droid.
"Sorry, but DIY Artoo is not the droid I'm looking for", Ponies says as he picks up a washer in the middle of the Dune Sea.
@uberfu: What if he was just a HUGE chode who slept all day, didn't pay his share of the rent on time, left the bathroom a mess, and hit on your girlfriend constantly. I could see R2 being like that.
@OMG! Ponies!:
+ Watch video
I want it ..... I want it oh and the inflateable princess lea doll
I don't care if 3PO was the actual DIY droid, he was probably the first robot in cinematic history to bitch ad nauseam, followed by that robot in Power Rangers that kept going "Aye ayeayeayeaye!"
Ong! He's so cute!! I want him!
Uselessness factor? Maybe from an AI standpoint, but you've obviously never seen the looks on the faces of kids when they see one of these little guys running around, or the joy that they've brought to kids in childrens' hospitals that have been visited. Or the thousands and thousands of dollars earned for charities like Make A Wish by one droid in particular... :) Not useless by far.
@8bitvillain:
there never was, and never will be, a cuter droid, android, robot, cyborg or automaton.
although i always though R. Giskard, although a literary (not cinematic) character was pretty cute, like, in my head.
whoops just checked it out - i thought Giskard wasn't human-shaped! wtf?
My shields cannot possibly deflect a nerdgasim of this magnitude! I WANT!!
@Kaiser-Machead: Once again, incorrect.
Does the phrase "Danger Will Robinson!" ring a bell?
The octagon on his side reminds me of the 'Dharma Initiative' from "Lost". I want one!
Oh. And *nothing* is better then the real thing. But its amazing how close you can come.
I was actually thinking more along the lines of "What can it do for me besides sitting in a corner?" Sorry, but I'm selfish!
Why is his back panel removed?
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