BB-8 with R2-D2 - Source: www.mentorpl.org
How nice would it be to own a star wars droid like R2-D2 or BB-8 ? It is Sunday afternoon here you are laying back in your garden, minding your business. There rings the doorbell who might that be ? just ask the droid to go and see who it is.Sadly enough such stories only exist in sci-fi movies and books, is a star wars droid applicable in real life?
Astromech Droïds
You don't have to be a huge star wars fan to recognize the typical droid sounds from the franchise.In the star wars universe they are known as astromech droïds who's main task it is to repair damaged battleshipsand fighters. Due to their diverse capabilities on the battlefield (hacking locked doors or electrocuting enemy soldiers),astromech droïds are a vital part of both The Empire and The Rebell Alliance. That is why Robin Murphy who is a robotics professor at the A&M university in Texas investigated the posibility of us using astromech droïds based robots in our daily lives.
Robots Without Limbs
Murphy studied the properties of both astromech droïds to see if they could be of any use here in our world. First she looked at their anatomy and as most of us already know the robots have no limbs. What they do possess are some handy repair tools hidden under their armor. These tools come in handy in the star wars universe, here on earth at least a pair of arms are required to perform some basic tasks. If we look at NASA's Robonaut, his hands are utterly important as he often has to fix broken hardware and conduct experiments on the ISS. His legs however are missing for the simple reason that he doesn't need them. On the space station there is not much surface to walk on, so Robonaut is much more agile when mounted on a turret or a vehicle for planetary reconnaissance.
Robonaut (left) Source: Skeeze/Pixabay
BB-8 rolling over sand dunes - Source: GooKingSword/Pixabay
The astromech droïd BB-8 moves around with the help of a bal functioning as one giant wheel. Nothing seems to get in its way, the droïd travels over all sorts of terrain from gravel to hills and even sand. In the real world, it would be impossible to roll over the sand like that. Everyone who has driven through rugged terrain with a car knows how fast the wheels get stuck and keep on spinning without moving an inch.
Whistles and Bleeps
What have astromech droïds to offer us in real life without speech or any limbs ? Except for C-3PO, the star wars droids communicate only by means of whistles and bleeps. Still Murphy sees this non-verbal way of communication as a positive asset because the droids can be applied in retirement homes, hospitals or kindergartens. Research conducted by Dr. Robin Read (Plymouth University) back in 2015 showed the non-verbal language to be effective when directed to children and elderly people but that's it. The conclusion here is that R2-D2 and BB-8 sound like robotic birds with no arms or legs, so for the moment we are better of with robot dogs.
Thanks for reading,
Funcore
Source: Popular Mechanics,Science Robotics