Bringing R2-D2 from the screen to real life with Pacific Northwest Droid Builders

May the Fourth Be With you, because today is Star Wars Day! For nearly 50 years, the Star Wars franchise has captured the hearts of SO MANY sci-fi and fantasy fans. And for a lot of people, it’s all about the droids… R2-D2 and C-3PO, to be precise. This past weekend, that love of droids was on full display at both the Museum of Flight, and at Barnes & Noble in Northgate, where we caught up with James Adams of the Pacific Northwest R2 Builders Club. He and his fellow club members build and demonstrate life-sized replicas of the beloved droids. Some of them can be driven around using remote control. The R2 unit James brought to Northgate looks and sounds just like what you see on the screen. It’s a hit with kids who fawn over it.  "Seeing the kids really light up – and it’s a type of character that is very easy for people to kind of let their imagination fill in the little bit of blank. So when you have a little kid come up, and you just see their eyes light up. They can’t see that there’s somebody remote controlling the device, so to speak, but instead to them it’s just R2-D2, the little guy from the movie that they like. And just seeing that, it’s like, it is them genuinely meeting the character and not standing next to an object, it never, it never gets tiring." Speaking of kids, droid builders say it’s a great opportunity to get people excited and involved with STEM projects. For this Star Wars Day, we wanted to learn more about the craft and dedication that goes into making these droids, so we’re speaking with Dr. Scott Ransom! He’s got a lot of expertise in robots. That’s because he’s a Director of a research center at Northwestern University that researches and develops robotic hands. GUEST: Dr. Scott Ransom is Director of Industry and Innovation at the Center for Human Augmentation via Dexterity at Northwestern University RELATED LINKS: Astromech.net R2Northwest: Pacific Northwest R2 Builders Club For R2-D2 builders in the Seattle area, ‘it’s a joy to see this thing bring so much happiness’ Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/soundsidenotes Soundside is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.