Saturday, May 4, 2013

May The Fourth Be With You!

Today we were in Downtown Bangor for the Kid Central Festival, celebrating Star Wars Day!

As is usually the case at events, I didn't get too many pictures as I had my hands full controlling R2 and answering the many questions from kids and adults!


I got R2-D2 to the event an hour early.  Parking in Downtown is always a challenge and finding a spot to park and unload a 200+ pound droid, even more so.  Usually I'd settle for something close and drive R2 down the sidewalk.  However, the sidewalks are in terrible shape and are cobblestone/brickwork.  That means R2's center foot wheels getting stuck on, plus the many heaves, bumps and so on!

Once inside, it was time to attach the dome, power up the computer and do my safety checks.  When the time was right, Gibran Graham introduced R2-D2 to the waiting crowd.  R2 made it about 30 feet before being swarmed by the kids!






The kids were great and very well behaved!  Gibran had the kids line up so everyone there could take a photograph with R2.  The sounds and music mixes another builder shared with the R2 Builders were a real hit.  The 'Gangnam Style' and 'Harlem Shake' with R2 sounds weaved into them brought many a smile and laugh.

On the techy side of things, R2 performed really well.  The changes to the center foot in regards to shock dampening worked noticeably well.  The little fella was cruising around without rattling around at every uneven floor surface.  I sealed the tall doors and data panel one since I didn't want those flopping around.  Once I installed servos and linkages, those will stay shut on their own.

One event down....another one on Wednesday and Saturday!