New Addition To The Build Team

So, not necessarily something that was needed to build my R2 unti, but at the same time it was. =D

My wife and I saw one of these units on craigslist about a year ago now for $50. It was actually the first time I had heard of them, which kind of shocks me because we both are huge fans of both Star Wars, and toys for that matter. We let that one slip back then, but since starting this project it was something that had been in my head the whole time. After watching a bunch of auctions go by on eBay, I grabbed this one for $60 and it arrived earlier today. It seems to hear commands sometimes without us giving them, and ends up patrolling the room or following me around the room, but otherwise it seems to work great. As soon as we took it out of the package we went and picked up my wife's three year old sister from daycare to show her. She thought it was wonderful! (She recently began watching the original trilogy with us. Go ahead and ask her who Luke's dad is, she'll tell you =D)

So, as you can probably see here, my work space, like many others, is my kitchen table currently. I'll work on a part for the night and then I try to clean up the tools and parts when I'm done so that it can be used for other things while I'm not working. My wife would likely point out I don't get it cleaned off every night, but that's why I said I try to. =D 

More build posts coming soon!

My Padawan System Is Working!

Well, the sound is anyhow. At this point I have a wireless ps2 controller, with the receiver plugged into a ps2 controller extension cable. That extension cable has been hacked in half, and the inside wires are being used as inputs to the Arduino Uno. The Uno is a cheap clone, but works great. The Uno is loaded up with code that has been put together by Danf, who I'd like to thank for the work he has done, the help he has given me so far, and the help I'm sure he will give me in the future as I start to add more to the controller set up. The code handles the input and output. I already covered the input, so the output goes from the Uno, to the mp3 trigger that is preloaded with the Padawan Sound files. These are the same basic R2-D2 sounds most builder are using with, but come in a specific order so that they match up with the code. Something worth pointing out about these files is that they have to be put onto the sd card one at a time, in the order they are listed in. Many people have had issues with the wrong sounds playing for the triggers and that is due to the fact that they put all the files on at once. I didn't run into that issue, but I did a ton of reading before I even bought these parts. 

Here we have a couple of close ups of the wiring. It looks sloppy, but this is still me just testing to see if things are working. Once I get these boards mounted on a permanent solution, the wiring will be done a bit more properly. For one I plan to buy the ScrewShield for the Uno, which cleans things up quite a bit. 

If you can't make it out, I too some small pieces of solid wire and soldered them to the end of the frayed copper wire that is inside the ps2 extension cable. Made putting them into the header terminals a lot easier for testing. 

With this working I'll be moving back to my teeces system once the rest of my parts get here. Then once that is done I'll get to integrate the two systems together. The Padawan system makes it so that durring certain sound files the lights behave differently than normal. I believe the 4 different behaviors are short circuit, the Leia message, and the Empire song. Can't wait to get it all working!

Also, I believe I'm working on things backwards to what most builders do. From what I've read of other build logs most people put together the frame or dome first. Then they put everything together and then maybe start tinkering with the electronics. I have ordered my dome, but I am still waiting on it to be shipped. Electronics are something I find myself understand a bit easier than construction so this seemed like a natural place to start. Plus it makes my wife's three year old sister scream when I can make R2 noises come from across the room =D

Some Logic Display Work

Here are the FLDs all put together minus the LEDs. Still waiting for them to arrive from JoyMonkey. The Chips are still on there way from China as well though, so I can't even test them until those show up as well. 

The RLD nearly finished as well. I have the red and yellow LEDs on hand from digikey, but I figured it would be easier to put them all in at once. Plus I'd like to double check my work with the components once the chips get here before I solder all of those LEDs in. You'll also see in this picture that I'm using the Arduino Micro. I got this one from Adafruit with the headers already soldered on. At the time I thought that that would be best, but I'm planning to use the Padawan system for my remote control, and I'll need to tap into a few pins on the micro. I might solder on an extra row of headers on the top like I did with my PSI's. Haven't really decided yet. 

Here's a couple of pictures of the PSI's together. Again you can see I am missing the chips still. Should be here soon. 

Here's a shot of all the boards together. 

Once the parts from china and JoyMonkey get here I'll sit down and put all of it together. I'll post more once I get it to that point. For now though I have the parts in to start working on my Padawan system and sound, so that will be what the next post is about!

First Parts Recieved

I'm back logging a few post so that everything comes out in order of how they were actually completed.


I ordered the parts needed for my teeces set and the boards were the first things to get here, and fast too. They must have been some extras on hand because I think they were shipped out same day and they made it to me within 2 days after that. Here are the boards.

A few days later my parts from digikey arrived. I had all the 5mm LEDs I needed left over from a project I had started back when I was working on my Merc costume so I started with the PSI's.

You might not be able to tell in this picture, but the row of 10 headers I actually put in upside down. I had put a couple of rows of led's on before I realized I had forgotten that piece, and for some reason this was the only way I was able to get it soldered in. The pins do not stick up quite far enough to put a jumper wire on, so I soldered an extra row of headers to the top of it. I thought it would be pretty fragile, but it seems just as strong as the other board that is done right. Who knew?

Here's the other one, not much of a difference so I only took the one picture. 

Thus far that is all I have completed, but I'll be getting to the Logic Displays soon enough. 

Background On Why I Decided To Build Him

I've been attending conventions for some years now, and seeing people walking around with astromechs has always been something that I found intriguing. In 2011 my wife and I were at SDCC, her first convention.(Side note: We actually got engaged at this con =D) The first panel we went to was the kinect Star Wars game panel. They announced the new R2-D2 Xbox 360 at this panel, and to make the announcement even larger they brought out an RC controlled R2-D2 as well. I saw them opening the door and nudged my wife to show her. At this point she squealed rather loudly at the site of R2 and once people found what she was looking at more gasps followed. This was her first experience with a life size R2, and she kind of flipped out about it.

If this is your droid, let me know!

We saw a few more, who am I kidding, a ton more astromechs at SDCC, and we were both prett giddy about them. I'd been to SDCC once before, so I'd seen my share, but they always catch my eye.

Here's another one we saw. Rocking a sweet drink tray =D Again, if this is your droid, let me know!

At this point I had already become a member of astromech.net. I've been going to Planet Comic-Con in Kansas City for the past 5ish years and after the PCC in 2011 I joined the Mercs site and started work on a helmet. (Sadly, it's still not complete. I moved and it got left in a box for over a year. Working on it again now) I believe I caught a link from there site to astromech and started reading and getting lost in the info way back then. I wrote it off as something out of my range of abilities and budget at the time. 

Fast forward to this years PCC and they had a droid builders panel. My wife and I sat through this one listening to all the great advice and that really got things started for me. I spent the next week or two reading up on as much as I could on the forums, and printed and read through the styrene plan instructions. About two weeks after the con I had ordered my first part. My styrene dome should be on the way next week! I've grabbed a few other things for the project since then, but I'll get to that in other posts. 

Excited to be started on my droid!