Astromech droid

"You stupid little astro droid!"

- A super battle droid to R2-D2, moments before being incinerated

An astromech droid, also referred to as an astro droid or mech, was a type of droid that served as an automated mechanic on starships. These compact droids used tool-tipped appendages stored in recessed compartments. Many starfighters relied on astromech copilots. Sitting in an astromech socket exposed to space, the droid, in addition to its piloting duties, could calculate hyperspace jumps and perform simple repairs.

Most astromechs were only able to communicate in writing, conveyed via another computer system, or through a special code of clicks, bleeps, and similar sounds, known as Binary.

Many astromech droids were about 0.93 meters tall in average, while R-series droids from the R2-line forward had a height of just over a meter. Sometime after the Battle of Endor an new class of astromech droid known as the BB-Droid was created, which had the head of the original R-Serise Astromech droid, but had a circular body.