R2D2 abuse

It was fun taking R2D2 to take your droid to work day but the front foot drive is once again loose. Driving in our parking lot going from one building to another took it's toll on R2. The pavement was rougher than I anticipated. That in addition to the main building he drove was tile and very bumpy tile with large grooves between the tiles. It was akin to taking R2D2 on an automotive test track. I was wincing as the front wheel banged away on the bumps. Many R2's in the club probably couldn't even go on surfaces like this but mine is like a tank. A tank with a delicate front foot.

I must .... must must must build a completely new front ankle / foot design similar to my rear motor mounts. It just makes sense. The stupid pivot point on the ankle is such a waste and completely inefficient for a droid that won't have 3-2-3 configuration. Recently FordFun signed my guestbook with a note that he just completed a design like that. If you're reading this, I would love to see some pictures of your design.

For now I will remove the foot and fix it again as there's another charity event that would like R2D2 there to entertain the guests.

Take our daughters and sons (& droids) to work day

This week has once again found me working on the front foot of R2D2. When we were visiting relatives last week with R2, one of the ankle bolts came loose and the entire front ankle started to develop a bit of movement. So I removed the foot and tightened all the areas that had loosened and made sure all the bolts had a few drops of loctite on them.

I also wanted to get him roadworthy again to bring R2 into work for "Take your daughters and sons to work day". My version will be more like "Take our droid to work day" It should be interesting as most people I work with don't know I built R2D2. There will be a bunch of kids in and around the company tomorrow so the addition of a well mannered droid will probably be welcome. We're a large electronics company so our little droid will feel almost at home here. Should be an interesting day.

The Easter Droid

This weekend we loaded up R2 and went to visit relatives on the East Coast of Florida. They have 3 girls ages 10 - 16 so we decided to use R2 to deliver their Easter Basket. Everyone was pretty surprised to see R2D2 walking up to their front door on Sunday.

R2 traveled well in his Escape Pod and loading and unloading him was a piece of cake with the Spitz lift. Of course there were a lot of looks going down the road with R2 looking out the back window of the Escape Pod. A lot of thumbs up signals and smiles.

The girls loved R2 and he was a hit going up and down their street. Something that amazed me though was these girls have NEVER SEEN STAR WARS !!!!!! When I heard that I threatened to turn the parents in for child neglect. So I decided it's my civic duty to send them the original Star Wars movie and they all promised to watch it. I'm still stunned by this news.

My wife had a lot of fun decorating R2 for this trip. She made a big fluffy puff ball tail and found the ears and basket. While she was shopping she informed me that she had a few other holiday outfits stashed away for R2 for the future. Gotta love a wife like that !

John Williams concert number three

We got in late last Sunday night and the week has been hectic so I never did mention anything about the last concert at Ruth Eckerd hall with the Florida Orchestra. Like the first two events, R2 performed flawlessly and the crowd was great. We met a lot of nice people and R2 was a big hit.

The icing on the cake Sunday was we received free tickets to see the John Williams tribute concert which was beautiful.

Once in a long narrow lobby a very large crowd of people started gathering/swarming around R2. The problem was the crowd got so big it started clogging up the hall so people couldn't get by. So I slowly walked R2 forward to an area in the lobby area that could accomodate the crowd. The entire crowd moved with R2 which unblocked the passageway. You had to have been there to appreciate it. I felt like my remote control now had the power to move crowds.

So now I can slowly get back into finishing R2. Wrangling him in public sure is fun though.