Droid (robot)

SWCA - From Droid Builder's Club Room

A droid is a fictional robot possessing some degree of artificial intelligence in the Star Wars science fiction franchise. Coined by special effects artist John Stears, the term is a clipped form of "android",[1] a word originally reserved for robots designed to look and act like a human.[2] The word "droid" has been a registered trademark of Lucasfilm Ltd since 1977.[3][4][5][6]

Star Wars

The franchise, which began with the 1977 film Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, features a variety of droids designed to perform specific functions.

Protocol droid

A "protocol" droid specializes in translation, etiquette and cultural customs, and is typically humanoid in appearance.[7] The most notable example is C-3PO, introduced in Star Wars and featured in all sequels and prequels.[8] 4-LOM is a protocol droid turned bounty hunter who responds to Darth Vader's call to capture the Millennium Falcon in The Empire Strikes Back (1980).[9][10] TC-14 is a droid with feminine programming that appears in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999),[11] and ME-8D9 is an "ancient protocol droid of unknown manufacture" that resides and works as a translator at Maz Kanata’s castle on Takodana in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015).[12]

Astromech droid

Droid replicas of R5-D4 (left foreground) and R2-D2 (right), from the Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim, California (April 2015)

An "astromech droid" is one of a series of "versatile utility robots generally used for the maintenance and repair of starships and related technology".[13] These small droids usually possess "a variety of tool-tipped appendages that are stowed in recessed compartments".[13] R2-D2 is an astromech droid introduced in 1977's Star Wars and featured in all subsequent films.[14] The malfunctioning droid R5-D4 also makes a brief appearance in Star Wars.[15] U9-C4 is a timid droid sent on a mission with D-Squad, an all-droid special unit in Star Wars: The Clone Wars,[16] and BB-8 is the astromech droid of X-wing fighter pilot Poe Dameron in The Force Awakens.[17]

Battle droid

A battle droid is a class of military robot in the Star Wars prequel trilogy of films (1999–2005) and the Star Wars: The Clone Wars TV series (2008–14), used as an easily controlled alternative to human soldiers.[18] The tall, thin B1 model resembles the Geonosian race, who designed the droids, and are known to "suffer programming glitches that manifest as personality quirks".[18] The droideka is a three-legged heavy infantry unit with twin blasters and the ability to generate a force shield and transform into a disk shape.[19] Multiple other types of specialized battle droids have been featured in the films and the TV series.[20]

HK-47 is a humanoid soldier robot, designed as a violent killer, which first appeared in the 2003 video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.[21]

Other droids

Star Wars: The Clone Wars has featured WAC-47, a "pit droid" programmed as a pilot and sent on a mission with the all-droid special unit D-Squad,[22] and AZI-3, a medical droid serving the cloners of Kamino who helps uncover the secret of Order 66.[23] The 2015 young adult novel Moving Target: A Princess Leia Adventure by Cecil Castellucci and Jason Fry introduces the droid PZ-4CO, to whom Leia Organa dictates her memoirs.[24][25] PZ-4CO also appears in The Force Awakens (2015).[26]

First usage

The term "Droid" was first used in the science fiction story "Robots of the World! Arise!" by Mari Wolf, published in If: Worlds of Science Fiction in July 1952.

Jack shook his head. "It's crazy. They're swarming all over Carron City. They're stopping robots in the streets--household Robs, commercial Droids, all of them."[27]
Mari Wolf, "Robots of the World! Arise!"

Lucasfilm registered "droid" as a trademark in 1977.[3][4][6]

Trademark use

The term "Droid" has been used by Verizon Wireless under licence from Lucasfilm, for their line of smartphones based on the Android operating system. Motorola's late-2009 Google Android-based cell phone is called the Droid. This line of phone has been expanded to include other Android-based phones released under Verizon, including the HTC Droid Eris, the HTC Droid Incredible, Motorola Droid X, Motorola Droid 2, and Motorola Droid Pro.[28] The term was also used for the Lucasfilm projects EditDroid, a non-linear editing system, and SoundDroid, an early digital audio workstation.

See also

References

  1. droid, The Word Guy. (November 9, 2009)
  2. Prucher, Jeff (May 7, 2007). Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction. Oxford University Press. pp. 6–7. ISBN 978-0-19-530567-8. Retrieved February 20, 2016.
  3. 1 2 "DROID (Original registration)". United States Patent and Trademark Office. September 22, 1977. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
  4. 1 2 "DROID (Current registration)". United States Patent and Trademark Office. September 26, 2008. Retrieved August 24, 2010.
  5. "Droid". The Free Encyclopedia. 1981. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
  6. 1 2 Hachman, Mark (July 6, 2010). "TweetUp Buys, Renames Twidroid Twitter App.". PC Magazine. Retrieved July 13, 2010.
  7. "Databank: Protocol Droids". StarWars.com. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
  8. "Databank: C-3PO". StarWars.com. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
  9. "Databank: 4-LOM". StarWars.com. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
  10. "Databank: 4-LOM (Archived)". StarWars.com. Archived from the original on October 23, 2008. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
  11. "Databank: TC-14". StarWars.com. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
  12. "Databank: ME-8D9". StarWars.com. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
  13. 1 2 "Databank: Astromech Droids". StarWars.com. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
  14. "Databank: R2-D2". StarWars.com. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
  15. "Databank: R5-D4". StarWars.com. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
  16. "Databank: U9-C4". StarWars.com. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
  17. "Databank: BB-8". StarWars.com. Retrieved December 4, 2015.
  18. 1 2 "Databank: Battle Droid". StarWars.com. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
  19. "Databank: Droideka". StarWars.com. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
  20. "Battle Droids (Various)". StarWars.com. Retrieved February 20, 2016.
  21. Boulding, Aaron (November 21, 2003). "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Review". IGN. Retrieved February 20, 2016.
  22. "Databank: WAC-47". StarWars.com. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
  23. "Databank: AZI-3". StarWars.com. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
  24. Sherer, Jay (November 6, 2015). "Star Wars: Moving Target: A Princess Leia Adventure by Cecil Castellucci and Jason Fry". SF Signal. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
  25. Stevenson, Freeman (December 9, 2015). "The new canon books to read before you see Star Wars: The Force Awakens". Deseret News. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
  26. Breznican, Anthony (December 18, 2015). "Star Wars: The Force Awakens: A collection of cameos and Easter eggs: Friend of the General". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved December 18, 2015.
  27. Wolf, Mari (July 1952). "Robots of the World! Arise!". If: Worlds of Science Fiction.
  28. "Droid 2 Gets a Surprise Hand-On". AndroidGuys. Retrieved 2010-08-24.

External links

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