If there are fictional characters that have played crucial roles in robotics, it will be the famous sidekicks in the Star Wars trilogy. R2-D2 and C-3PO have charmed their way around the audience and made a huge impact as well in the robotics field. As soon as they bicker in front of the screen, they have caught our attention and definitely inspired a lot of robotics enthusiasts to create their own robots.
R2-D2 has inspired the public to create their own assistants that could help them around the house. The droid also helped in inspiring younger generations spark their curiosity in science in engineering. Through its beeps and bops, little children have curiously tried learning how the robot works and how to make one.
Source: Hello Giggles
R2-D2 got inducted into the Robot Hall of Fame back in 2003 while made it in the list of 101 Objects that Made America – a list made by Smithsonian Institution. The droid has definitely made an impact not just in pop culture but in robotics as well. It was also believed that this funny little robot was George Lucas’ favorite character in the series. According to him, he makes it intentional that R2-D2 manages to save the day every now and then in each movie.
As for the humanoid robot character, C-3PO, we can see a lot of robots nowadays that has clearly taken inspiration from this funny easily frightened robot. Re-created by Anakin Skywalker in the Episode I, C-3PO has also made an impact in the robotics field. One example on projects that was inspired by the protocol droid was the robot built by the United States Navy. It’s called the Autonomous Shipboard Humanoid and its purpose was to extinguish fires, climb ladders and carry hoses.
Source: Ubergizmo
For both robots, we can see a lot of high-level toys created to develop the learning skills of children. Clearly, a lot of kids have sparked an interest in building robots as soon as they were introduced to these two funny droids. With the release of Episode VII last December, the public was also given a new robot to love – BB-8.
Source: Zanzebek
Star Wars has a strong fan base and while not everyone got into robotics because of it, we still can’t admit how this series has helped out the robotics field in terms of increasing people who join the field and inspired designs and prototypes that shaped the way we see the world now.
