Kids' Corner visit 2013

Today we made our annual visit to Kid's Corner-Community Early Care & Learning Facility located in Bar Harbor.  My high school classmate and friend Lori Krupke operate runs this facility.  The kids talk about their R2-D2 visits for months and have been eagerly awaiting this years visit!

The drive down to Bar Harbor usually takes an hour but with foggy weather and tourist season in full swing, it took a bit longer.  I planned extra time for the drive down and the rain managed to hold off until I had R2-D2 safely inside.

The children range in age from toddler to pre-k and let me tell you, they know STAR WARS!  Many times I have had people ask if the kids even know what R2-D2 and STAR WARS is all about.  I can assure you that they do!

Once we were indoors, the kids crowded around and looked, touched (gently!) and thoroughly investigated this little robot.

As the guy controlling R2-D2, with two large remote controls, I am always fascinated how quickly the kids forget me.  They do not see R2-D2 as a movie prop or a gadget.  They see it as a little person, just like them!

Click to see the complete photo gallery on Paul's R2-D2 on Facebook.

Once the kids had their time with R2-D2, it was lunch time...and the kids were pretty trilled to have R2 join them

Perhaps my favorite part was when the kids would pepper me with questions, be it how R2-D2 works ....or how do my cats like living with an R2-D2!

My #1 Fan!  And check out the t-shirt!

This is one of the few events where there's a lot of pictures!  And these are all courtesy of Lori Krupke!  Thanks for sharing! 

Foster Family Day at Fort Knox (Maine)

Saturday was Foster Family Day at Fort Knox, an event that recognizes the families who step up to care for Maine's abused and neglected children.

Due to the nature of the event, I don't take pictures of the adults or children in attendance.

This is the second time I've been down for this annual event and I'm just in awe at all the happy kids and families that come together for this.  We had a beautiful spring day with plenty of sunshine, so the kids could explore the Fort, jump in the inflatable jump-castle or enjoy the entertainment.

R2-D2 was set and raring to go once we got there...

Mid-way thru the event, while moving R2's dome around, I heard a "thunk".  I took a peek thru one of the dome panels and expected to see something simple.  Perhaps the power lead that goes from the dome plate to the dome got snagged, or the dome drive sprocket had worked itself loose, hitting the dome plate.   

Those all looked fine.  Hmmm.

Once I thanked the hosts and packed R2 up, I checked more carefully for the metallic clunking I was hearing.  The motor was spinning and the dome gear would move slightly.  So, that told me the issue was likely the motor itself.  This dome gear and motor/sprocket setup is still a bit new, having just gone in a few weeks ago.  I have had a very busy May, already doing four events this month.  The dome drive had worked perfectly in those events.

While driving home, I decided to stop over at Fred's house, my machinist friend.  I knew he'd enjoy taking the motor apart and helping play detective with me.

With the Pololu 37D motor removed from R2, Fred carefully unscrewed the motor assembly.  He didn't have to look far to see that some of the teeth were sheared off....

The diagnosis is a sheared gear, as you can see in the image.

What probably caused it is the back and forth motion from having R2-D2's dome moving around with the music being played.  That's a popular request so it looks like the Pololu motor won't be the best for this dome gear & sprocket setup.  If I were using a rubber wheel pressed against the rockler bearing, that would work fine, since the wheel would just spin until having enough traction to reverse direction.

The Pololu motor cost $25, so this isn't a disaster by any means.  I simply need to find a motor that is stronger and able to withstand the rapid direction changes the dome gear & sprocket.  With any luck I'll find something small and comparable in cost.  And of course, with any luck, minimal changes to the motor mount and sprocket....but, we shall see!

Fun with the Smileys!

For newer readers of my blog, last year we were a guest of the Smileys.  While her husband was on a year long military deployment with the Navy, she decided to invite someone over for dinner each week.  It started with United States Senator Susan Collins, then went on to include teachers, the chief of police, a congressman....and even R2-D2 and I.  Sarah chronicles all of these dinners in her new book, "Dinner With The Smileys"

Since the book has been released, those of us who were guests have been amazed at the publicity our good friend Sarah is receiving.  We love it!  We love this family and feel extremely privileged to call them our friends.

Last Saturday, the Briar Patch Bookstore hosted 'Signing with the Smileys'.  Sarah Smiley & Family would be on hand to autograph her new book.  I was asked if R2-D2 could be there as part of the event for the kids.

The event was from 11am to 1pm so R2 and I arrived good and early.  The weather was off and on rain showers and getting R2 inside and situated only took a few minutes.  R2 was near the entry way while Sarah and Family were further inside the store.

It wasn't long before we had a long line of people waiting in line to have their books signed.  We also had a good number of kids, some even in costume, stopping by to visit with R2-D2. 

As the event wound down, we couldn't resist having some fun pictures taken of R2-D2 being read to.  Gibran Graham was a good sport, as well as very photogenic, for this picture...

After I had purchased a copy of the book for my Mother, I had Sarah Smiley and her kids autograph it...and then asked if she would take a picture with R2-D2.  Perhaps, say, reading the chapter R2-D2 is in!

Lindell Smiley, R2-D2 and Sarah Smiley

We had an awesome time and thoroughly enjoyed meeting not only the kids but readers who were touched by what R2-D2 and I did during our Dinner with the Smileys last year.

You may have also seen R2-D2 in the Mother's Day issue of PARADE magazine, which had a special section about Dinner with the Smileys.

I also wanted to share that on Monday morning, the family was on FOX & FRIENDS (click to see video)  Lindell made my day when he said his favorite dinner guest was R2-D2!

There will be more media/publicity coming out with the release of the book and I'll be happy to share that here in the blog!

CAREER DAY at Old Town Elementary School

Wednesday (May 8th) was Career Day at Old Town Elementary School.

I received the invitation several weeks ago and wrote back, explaining that my actual job and career is not working on R2-D2s.  I work as a Computer Tech at the medical center, I take care of the PCs, laptops, printers and other equipment there.  However, they wanted someone to explain robotics and since R2-D2 is pretty well known in the community, the kids had a lot of questions about it.

Now I don't have kids so I made sure to arrive at the Elementary School good an early.  Once I had checked in and had R2 unloaded, I was lead to 'my' class room for the morning.

The event had me speaking for 30 minutes to 5 groups of kids.  The other speakers were a marine biologist, Life Flight, Maine State Police, the Maine Warden Service (and helicopter) among others.

With the age range being from First Grade to Fifth Grade, I tried to speak at a level the kids could understand.  I also kept it brief since their attention span is extremely short with R2-D2 in the room!

After talking about what it took to build R2 and how various sections work, such as the motors and lights, I turned it over to Questions and Answers.

I had a great time chatting with the kids and the school staff.  They all asked a lot of good questions and suggested a lot of additions for R2.  The light saber launcher was a big request from the kids...as well as making an Optimus Prime next!  No promises!

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!

Making R2 look a bit more "Industrial"

Over the past few weeks, I've been working with my friend, Fred, on some ideas for R2 to look a bit more "industrial".  After all, in the movies we know R2-D2 is one of many, mass-produced droids to do various tasks.  So, let's make R2 look that way.

One of the other builders already offers the door details in plastic.  However, I prefer aluminum and the ones offered do not account for the space the hinges take.

After measuring up the available space on the door panels, it was a matter of replicating the pattern on the computer and scaling it down.  Once we were comfortable with that, we used some pre-painted 0.040 inch aluminum and cut it on the CNC.

For my droid, I made the tall door details 12.125" inches by 1.875" inches wide.

The "large door" panel, also known as the Data Panel door, worked out to be 4.00" inches by 6.00" inches.

Here's how they look all installed on R2-D2 #2 (the Charge Panel is removed to fix an alignment issue).

Next up was the small door on the lower left.  A few weeks ago, I came up with an idea that replicates the design of the Data Panel.  This door is where I have R2's main power switches for electronics and drive motors..  I wanted to something different and started work on it tonight, drilling holes for the DPDT electrical switches to fit.

I wasn't sure how I felt about cutting the details out, having R2's "guts" show thru the small gaps.  However, the door is seldom open and from past experiences, people are just in awe to see what is inside the robot that makes it work.

Next up is the label that appears inside the charging port door.  In "Return of the Jedi" it is briefly visible when R2 zaps Jabba's rodent pet  and when he zaps apart the chains on Princess Leia.

The R2 Builders have dug, researched, done slow motion replays to try to figure out what that text says.  Like most of the Star Wars text, it uses a font called Aurebesh  I'll be honest, I am not entirely sure what the text is supposed to be but based on what others have made for labels, I took my best guess.  Fred, being the signmaker and CNC guru of the bunch, fired up his Gerber vinyl printer and made two, one for each droid.

With the placement of the hinge and keeping it centered in the available space, our decals wound up being 3.00" inches by 2.00" inches.