J.E.D.I. Controller for R2

I hate to take apart a perfectly good running droid but in this case the new JEDI Controller that a member of the R2D2 builders club created, warrants a few modifications to R2's existing electronics.  The JEDI Controller (Joystick enhanced drive input) allows the transmitter to control a high number of devices on the droid allowing you to overcome the 6 channel limitation of the transmitter.  Plus you can control the sounds on a single transmitter.


The JEDI controller is programmable and the genius developer (Scott Gray) of this microchip even gave it a language that we can program.  He aptly named the language "JAWA"script and it seems to have a rich array of features.  For instance, I plan on programming the droid to go on standby where sensors (hooked into the controller) can detect people walking by and activate the droid to wake up and interact with the person autonomously.  Which gives the droid wrangler a break now and then.  The droid acts like he's aware of his surroundings.  Not sure how good I'll be at programming this but I think it may be right up my alley.  Oh and when I say autonomously, that doesn't include him driving around on his own.  That would not be practical.

Tonight I got a lot of the electronics hooked up and we're on our way.