An R2 Of Your Own

skywalker404 writes: "Hasbro is releasing a 15" tall, functioning R2 unit. 'We built in all the feistiness of R2D2,' said Jeff Popper, director of marketing for Hasbro. 'He has the same charisma and charm that we have come to know in R2D2.' And apparently 'Hasbro also has programmed secret commands into R2D2 - putting an emphasis on the upper end of the "8-and-over" target market.' Rocky Mountain News has this article on it. You can also go to the (very meager) website that Hasbro has made just for it."

Comments

Too bad there is no bluetooth support.

[glrotate]

The possibilities would be endless.

Re:Who is more gay?

[Zen Programmer]

You

R2 as copilot

[unsinged int]

Whoever buys this should get one and ride around with it. That would be awesome.

Re:R2 as copilot

[wo1verin3]

It'd be great for the car pool lanes. :)

Secret commands, eh?

[lavaforge]

Mix:
A bunch of computer geeks
A toy like this
"Secret commands"

I have a feeling that there are going to be a lot of calls from concerned parents after some of these commands get discovered.

Re:Secret commands, eh?

[LBrothers]

grep -r 'pr0n' /R2D2

Oh dear.

Re:Secret commands, eh?

[guttentag]

I wonder what kind of secret commands are built in.

User: Get me a beer, R2.
R2: Get your own friggin beer, jerkoff! I'm watching the game. And get me one too while yer at it. Worthless human...

I'm still waiting for the beer-fetching Princess Leia with secret commands.

This is a dangerous toy

[paladin_tom]

The R2 Droid has memory archives of many Star Wars characters, and will react at the mention of their names.

Kid: I saw The Phantom Menace last night. Jar-jar is so cool!

R2: Whee-a-whoo! KILL DESTROY KILL DESTROY...

Sounds familiar

[bartb]

hmmm, sounds familiar, remember this story?

Re:Sounds familiar

[skinfitz]

It does indeed - thanks for posting that I thought I was going mad.

Repeat

[tangentman]

Um, isn't this the same story as this one? Hi ho.

MyGeekdom.com The Sublime, The Ridiculous, and The News!

At $100, this could be a good platform

[jukal]

for an open source development project. It seems to be equipped well enough to do all kinds of things, if we just changed the brains to something more intelligent.

Actually, this is so interesting that I will try and approach Hasbro about whether they could publish the complete specs for the hardware on board(or if someone from Hasbro reads this, publish it here). Then, if we get the specs, I will publish a "R2D2 new brains challenge", at this site.

Re:At $100, this could be a good platform

[jukal]

> whether they could publish the complete specs for the hardware on board

So far, the marketing video gives best source for quesses on the hardware.

Re:At $100, this could be a good platform

[jukal]

> This is a troll, right?

Hehe, this time, it was not a troll. If Hasbro replies to the request I sent to them and publishes the specs, you could really turn this into something fun - by replacing the software and maybe adding a few cheap new pieces of HW - you could get a rather good bot platform for $100. :)

Re:At $100, this could be a good platform

[Cplus]

Stupid viddy won't play in Mozilla. I thought most everyone had come around.

Re:At $100, this could be a good platform

[jukal]

> Like what, an R2 firewall? Or R2 Beowulf cluster?

Like R2, that follows your Slashdot postings and rates the comments made on them. Upon detecting comments like the one I am commenting to now, it would hop into an miniature airplane, fly to the other side of the world, recognize you by forming a profile based on vocabilary and image, flap you on the cheek, assimilate you, and fly back while playing the startwars theme on background.

Re:At $100, this could be a good platform

[Chasuk]

Maybe I'm not enough of a geek to appreciate this fully, but $100 seems awfully expensive for something that has no practical application, and would provide, say, 15 minutes of amusement.

Not to be crude, but for $100 it had better be able to give head before I would pay for it.

I think Hasbro has overestimated the Star Wars appeal. Or are there really that many /. readers out there so enamored of the Star Wars universe that $100 seems reasonable for a glorified beer-fetcher?

Now, when the day comes that $100 buys me a droid that can fetch a beer out of the fridge without me pre-loading it, then I would still save my money and walk to the fridge. But then, like I said, I guess I'm not geeky enough.

Let's be honest: if this wasn't Star Wars merchandise no one would give a shit. If it understood the names of 20 characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and beeped and chirped when the owner spoke those names, would anyone except for CmdrTaco buy it?

Re:At $100, this could be a good platform

[jukal]

> but $100 seems awfully expensive for something that has no practical application

I don't know if that turns it into capable of being used in practical applications - but I believe that if the bot was freely programmable (and controlled by for example CLinux) - you could enhance it's possibilities quite much.

Re:At $100, this could be a good platform

[ncc74656]

Stupid viddy won't play in Mozilla. I thought most everyone had come around.

You'll still need Windows Media Player (or something compatible), but the direct URL to the video is mms://vendariawm.fplive.net/vendaria/onair/obpOaDy qImLLKIKLvLluEN003501200160.asf. (I would've made it a link, but /. would've mangled it...as it is, you'll need to filter out the space in the middle.)

Re:At $100, this could be a good platform

[Fjord]

That's fucked up. slash takes the slashes out of that link. Why?

Re:At $100, this could be a good platform

[g4dget]

If you don't get it, perhaps we should revoke your nerd membership. Also, this has nothing to do with "open source", as you seem to suggest. The fact that when a bunch of unrelated people collaborates on something, the result ends up being open source is incidental.

What I find much more tedious is that whenever a bunch of people want to do something fun with hardware or software, a bunch of people like you come out of the woodworks who put it down. Go back to hacking MS SQL Server and stop bothering us.

Re:At $100, this could be a good platform

[istartedi]

I think Hasbro has overestimated the Star Wars appeal. Or are there really that many /. readers out there so enamored of the Star Wars universe that $100 seems reasonable for a glorified beer-fetcher?

Yes. I think The Simpsons said it best:

Skinner: Here's Ralph Wiggum's entry... Pre-packaged "Star Wars" characters, still in their display box? Are those the limited-edition action figures?
Ralph: What's a diarama?

And of course, Ralph won.

Re:At $100, this could be a good platform

[198348726583297634]

Yes. This is very interesting. Does it perform sexual acts. I am performing auto-erotic acts right now. Would you like me to photograph them?

Re:At $100, this could be a good platform

[jukal]

> Dude, you REALLY need to get out of the house. No, seriously, this is not even trolling.
> Find the nearest walking trail and follow it as long as you can. You need fresh air.

hehe! do I have this effective geekcamouflage, cool :) I will have to show this to my two kids when they start thinking I am a dinosaur :)

Love the details

[moronga]

From the article:

R2D2 operates on eight batteries...

Sheesh. What *kind* of batteries? AA? Car? Anti-aircraft? What?

Re:Love the details

[Planesdragon]

Probably standdard toy batteries--1.5 v cells, most likely C or D size. But any battery you can wire in that will produce 12 V will probably do it.

Remember, this is a consumer product--and unless otherwise stated, consumer products follow standards. (If it wasn't going to be standard, they'd say "9-volt battery" or "battery pack." doing otherwise runs the risk of bad press.)

Re:Love the details

[grondin]

From the Wal*Mart page:

Requires 4 AA and 4 "D" alkaline batteries (not included)

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[account_deleted]

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"Fully Operational?"

[unsinged int]

Hmm...can't seem to get mine to fly. Guess I got the Episode I model and not the Episode II model. Darn.

(Actually...whenever someone advertises a robot as "fully operational" or "fully functional" I can't help but think of Data from Star Trek saying "Yes, I am fully functional." You have to remember the context to get that...)

Re:"Fully Operational?"

[Chanc_Gorkon]

Imagining Tasha and Data GETTING IT ON! Of course for Tasha it was probably alot like a Symbian (weird ass sex toy). That was one funny scene.

Re:"Fully Operational?"

[opti6600]

It's actually called a Sybian. Get your porn terms right...and you call yourself a geek...

I wonder if...

[goatasaur]

You could put videos on it and have it play them back in holo form! You can only see "Where the Boys Aren't: 7" so many times in 2d.

Obligatory...

[Ozan]

Father: I'm looking for a Star Wars christmas gift for my son.
Salesman: We have this R2 droid toy.
Father: No, this looks cheap, I'm looking for something real impressive.
Salesman: This is the droid you're looking for.
Father: This is the droid I'm looking for.
Salesman: You want to pay cash.
Father: I want to pay cash.

Re:Obligatory...

[AmbientNightmare]

I don't know about the yellow one though...damn thing won't shut up...

Boy oh Boy oh Boy

[SouperDouper]

I clicked around and got to the Amazon.com preorder page and watched the video...What was their big deal about how it's "every boy's favorite droid" and "every boy needs a droid." I'm not the kind of person that really cares, but it's almost like they were trying to draw heat from numerous upset mothers.

Re:Boy oh Boy oh Boy

[HimalayanRoadblock]

That Amazon vid wouldn't work in Mozilla so I tried it in ie cause I really wanted to see it. In the voice of the Simpsons Comic Book store Owner "Worst...Commercial...Ever..."

And as for the every boy needs a droid they ripped that off from Everyone needs a log. Come and get your log. Your gonna love it log. Log. By Blammo.

Re:Boy oh Boy oh Boy

[syd02]

It's not even a real droid. It turns out it's a toy.

Whir bleep

[LBrothers]

Bleep bloop whir whistle. Whir whir bleep whistle woot woot. Toot bleep whistle chirp. Bloop whir whistle beep.

secret commands ?

[Graspee_Leemoor]

So what are these secret commands ?

Deliver hologramatic mesage to wussy jedi who's been hiding on Tatooine for so long that he's forgotten a) that the force is created by micro-organisms, b) how to fight with a light-sabre and not look like a girl.

?

Or maybe, since these commands at aimed at "older children" it's stuff like beating you off, finding good pr0n you don't need a credit card for, "boosting" cars and getting you good deals on crack.

graspee

I hope.

[/dev/trash]

That one of the secret commands isn't:

sucky sucky

Re:I hope.

[damien_kane]

Nope... they clearly state the toy costs more than $5

Something tells me....

[Chanc_Gorkon]

This thing will just suck. I wonder if anyone had a Heathkit Hero and upgraded it's brains?

Re:Something tells me....

[GalionTheElf]

Actually, I saw this thing a few months ago on BBC World a while back, and it was pretty cool. As in, it looked like a quality toy cool, not "it really looked like R2 and the bleeps were just like in the movie @#@#@#@#" cool. But of course, that's just my opinion...

Good for parties?

[VirexEye]

Does anyone else think it would be cool if you could get R2 to serve drinks at your party like in Jabba's air ship? [Forgive me for not knowing the correct name of Jabba's vehicle *waits to get crucified*]

Re:Good for parties?

[LBrothers]

Tool, why don't you know the name of the airship! Everyone knows the name of the airship. Even my mother knows its name.

Now if you'll excuse me I have to go put on my Jabba the Hut pajamas, watch Return of the Jedi for the 15th time this year, and wax my lightsaber.

Re:Good for parties?

[yasth]

Sand Barge (which for the record I only know because of Dark Forces)

Re:Good for parties?

[StillaCoward]

Yes, someone does...

Re:Good for parties?

[larry bagina]

wax my lightsaber.

wow. a new phrase for masturbating. may the force be with you.

I can forsee this one...

[Guppy06]

" 'Hasbro also has programmed secret commands into R2D2 - putting an emphasis on the upper end of the "8-and-over" target market.'"

"R2, go get me a beer."

Charisma and charm?

[perlyking]

The thing is a bin on wheels and beeps...

1st question I ask mine

[HimalayanRoadblock]

Last line of the article is.
Owners should operate the robot indoors only, the company says - and never in Jundland Wastes, home of the dangerous Tusken Raiders.

If it flips out when you ask it about Vader, I want to see what happens when mention the only place never to operate it.

Hey R2, for our vacation we are going to Jundland Wastes.

Re:1st question I ask mine

[HimalayanRoadblock]

I'm hoping for more carnage. Maybe a pre recorded hologram message and then self-destruction. Then again he'll probably beep and run away.

Re:Secret commands revealed

[damien_kane]

"Toss me my saber"

"It's the one that says 'bad motherfucker' on it

"Call one of my bitches"

After which the R2 unit will respons with "I'm on the motherfucker, the shit is under control, I will be sending the wookie directly"

Atari's prototype robot

[AtariKee]

Not completely on-topic, but interesting nevertheless...

There is a story and pictures about Kermit, the Grass Valley-designed (Grass Valley was the original Atari's research facility) robot that former Atari coin-op designer/programmer Owen Rubin rescued after it was abandoned. You can read the story and view the pictures here.

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[account_deleted]

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Who needs to buy a droid?

[Kaz Riprock]

Why would I want to buy an R2, when I can just build my own droid.

Just you wait...

[Spleener12]

You think the PARENTS are going to complain, just think of the big businesses complaining when these things effortlessly hack into their networks and open all their doors and stuff. Or, worse yet, close and lock all the doors and HOLD THEM ALL HOSTAGE! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

...yeah. Something like that.

What's old, is new again.

[Christopher Thomas]

I knew I'd seen something very much like this before.

Anyone remember Omnibot?

Doublespeak

[sudotcsh]

From the Hasbro/Star Wars page:

"Even though he is stubborn at times, you can trust this dependable Droid to be your devoted helper and friend."

What do they mean, he can be stubborn? Oh. I see. They mean that his programming is faulty and he just plain isn't going to work correctly at times.

Guess that's what you get for a $100 robot.

What mission?

[Nighttime]

What are you talking about? I've had just about enough of you! Go that way! You'll be malfunctioning within a day, you near-sighted scrap pile!

Or if you prefer your own light saber

[revscat]

Check these guys out. Came across this while searching Google. It's a fully-functional light saber. Of course, by fully functional I mean "has a glass blade" instead of a laser one, and "would break in actual combat" instead of "kicking ass." But still.

Re:Or if you prefer your own light saber

[AmbientNightmare]

Actually...it says "indestructable poly-carbonate tube". Whereas this doesn't mean you can lop of hands, arms, heads, and any other extremity, it does mean you can look like a true dork fighting with your buddy while camping out for episode III.

Re:Or if you prefer your own light saber

[WIAKywbfatw]

Star Wars fans camping outside a movie theatre waiting for Episode III playing with fake lightsabers will look like true dorks?

Gee, d'ya think?

Re:Or if you prefer your own light saber

[jeffasselin]

No, they're not glass, they're polycarbonate (the same stuff Apple's iMacs are made of, and I've never seen one's plastics break), and would NOT break unless you actually applied extreme pressure to them.

Re:Or if you prefer your own light saber

[Misagon]

There was a Slashdot article about Parks Sabers only a couple of months ago.

One thing that was whined about in the old thread was the price. Actually, the price of a Parks Saber ($200 and up) is pretty reasonable considering that

• It is very well made and has good features.
  
• The official licensed StarWars-brandedreplicas cost just as much, are of less quality and have less features.
  
• If you want to create a replica made from the same parts as the props in the films, they will cost you quite a lot more.
  

Upper End of Inifinity?

[bozoman42]

... putting an emphasis on the upper end of the "8-and-over" target market.

What exactly is the "upper end" of an "-and-over" market? 110? Will Hasbro start running advertising materials in rest homes?

Re:Upper End of Inifinity?

[Dthoma]

"upper end of the 8-and-over target market" = "18-25 single Star Wars geeks"

Re:Upper End of Inifinity?

[bozoman42]

-- (Score: 2, Nitpicky)

Definitely.

It was meant to be funny. :-)

Hmm...

[Dthoma]

...will it have this as a secret feature?

Re:Hmm...

[Misagon]

I like this one better. Not x-rated.

Yeah...

[Cl1mh4224rd]

Another re-post... I know they're probably counting on everyone here having short attention spans, but geez...

fully functional?

[cosyne]

so it

• Can be submerged in a degoba swamp
  
• Can interface with major computer systems via rotating phallic appendage thingie
  
• Projects holograms of hot chicks in mid-air
  
• Has a built-in stun gun
  
• Repairs space ships in mid-flight
  
• Can traverse miles of scorching desert
  
• and of course can fire a light saber out of it's head
  

Schweet.

Re:Secret commands revealed

[Dthoma]

After which the R2 unit will respons with "I'm on the motherfucker, the shit is under control, I will be sending the wookie directly"

In Morse code, I presume.

You meant...

[IIRCAFAIKIANAL]

CRUSH KILL DESTROY

right? :)

Re:You meant...

[glandauer]

No. I think that he means:

EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!

(Added text to defeat lameness filter.)

Re:You meant...

[IIRCAFAIKIANAL]

In a less than interesting coincidence, I came onto slashdot to check out if anyone thought my lame joke was funny and "Doctorin' the Tardis" starts playing on my MP3 player :)

EX-TERM-INATE! EX-TERM-INATE!

Re:You meant...

[NeuroManson]

Nonono, it's clearly "Kill, Crush, Destroy!"

Wonder how it would respond to "klaatu barata nikto", however...

15" and fully functional?

[IIRCAFAIKIANAL]

Must be for the lonely female geeks.

Oh, it's a toy robot. Nevermind.

Posted before?

[Psx29]

IIRC, this has already been posted

Re:Posted before?

[GalionTheElf]

It's not exactly IIRC if you have a link to it =P

Not sure if I want one

[Thenomain]

From the website: "The droid who helped the Empire!"

I want to see the PR spin on this. "Oh, no, we mean before it was evil. I mean, really evil. I mean, we wiped his memory so we're sure he doesn't remember anything, but just in case, remember to take the batteries out before you go to sleep."

Re:Not sure if I want one

[Teknogeek]

I'm not supposed to put weight on it!
</moe>

WARNING, LINK IS NOT WORK-SAFE

[Chris Pimlott]

A little heads up for the cubicle dwellers... it's Star Wars pr0n.

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[account_deleted]

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How good is the voice recognition?

[interstellar_donkey]

It starts to shake in fear if you ask about Vader, eh?

So what happens, in passing, when you say 'hey R2, what do you think of Ralph Nader?'

Oh the fun.

Droid?

[OtisSnerd]

Looks more like a $100 cat toy.

Read the fine print...

[Chris Pimlott]

"Light saber not included"

Re:Read the fine print...

[NeoSkandranon]

Some assembly required

Re:Read the fine print...

[Chris Pimlott]

Some assembly required

Well of course, everyone knows each Jedi must construct their own personal light saber as part of their training using...

Ah shit, I should have stopped talking long ago, shouldn't I?

Furby

[davidc]

Wonderful! A metallic Furby! (Pre-orderable to boot)

Just what I've been waiting for... I can see it now:

Da-loo-laah, C3PO {whistle whistle} Hmmmm... No..see..you! {launches into twee little song}

Techno-Polly eat your heart out.

Marketing info reveals secret featur

[gerardrj]

Following the link to the toys-r-us page for purchase (via amazon) lists the following specs:

Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
Box Size (in inches): 10.5 x 7.5 x 17.5
Shipping weight: 0.039198 pounds. -----
ASIN: B000063KCP
SKN: 527772

It seems R2 comes with an anti-gravity module. Figure a 15" metal robot should weigh a few pounds at least. The packaging and box should weigh a few ounces to maybe two pounds. Yet the shipping weight of the entire deal is just over 1/2 of an ounce. R2 must be generating a hover field that supports its own weight and most of the box and packaging. Hope it doesn't get blown away when I open the front door!

r2-linux

[typedefstruct]

yeah but can i run linux on it?

that's all i want to know..........

Move along, move along...

[Jugalator]

Come back when it projects holograms. If such holograms can then be downloaded from internet, we know where that's headed to. R2 units projecting pr0n. ;-)

'We built in all the feistiness of R2D2'

[Observer]

Beep

Bip Beep Buzz

</sulking silence>

It really has the thrusters from episode 2

[MarkoNo5]

From Amazon : Shipping weight: 0.039198 pounds.

Nifty preview video at Wal-Mart site

[writertype]

Complete with 50's-style announcer assuring you that "every kid in the galaxy will want one". The video offers a pretty detailed look at the droid's capabilities, including sound effects. Here's a direct link to the R2 site on Wal-Mart: (http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?produc t_id=1819726) The video's in a link on the middle of the page.

Re:R2 as copilot - cut the crap

[the_skuncle]

Settle the fuck down! There's no fucking need to use that sort of fucking language around here. If the stupid fucker wants to use fsck instead of a good old fashioned fuck, then let him. The cyber-nanny on his mommy's fucking computer probably won't let him send anything with the word fuck in it anyway.

Besides, what the fuck does his post have to do with you anyway, asshat?

Re:R2 as copilot - cut the crap

[majestyk2000]

Asshat? I'm offended....