COO cook droid

"Me worst spell in space? No, 'twarnt sailing through the fire rings of Fornax. 'Twas the month I spent on the run from the Loronar navy, an' stuck with a vegetarian galley droid."

- Reginald Barkbone, legendary pirate of the Seven Sectors

The COO cook droid was a chef droid created by Industrial Automaton before the Clone Wars. The droid model came equipped with over a dozen arms, which were equipped with common cooking tools such as a spatula, knife and spoon. Designed for catering on a large scale, such as in a military mess hall, the droid came with only a few hundred of the most common recipes, and although this software could be replaced with another package containing different recipes, the process to do so was very complex. Because of this, few owners did swap their droid's software package. This lengthy process was a flaw commonly noted by customers. Ultimately, many owners ended up using the droid for nothing more than heating up meals or serving prepackaged foods. One droid model, COO-2180, served upon the starship Jendirian Valley in 22 BBY.

Specifications
The Industrial Automaton droid was a class five droid. It was designed to be used as a chef for large scale catering, such as military mess halls, although the COO droid was considered a sloppy construction. For its body, Industrial Automaton re-used the chassis from one of its droids, making it appear ugly, and clunky. The company's frugality was a main factor in causing many to believe that the COO droid was a cheap and mediocre construction. It had a flat head fitted with a vocoder, one photoreceptor, and an olfactory sensor, which enabled the droid to determine the freshness of various ingredients. A COO droid's legs could lock to the floor through magnetism, a handy ability for cooking on starships with irregular artificial gravity.

A cook droid's unique arm configuration allowed it to do many things at once. With the right socket configuration, a COO droid could have over a dozen arms. Possible arm appartuses included a spatula, a whisk, a strainer, a serving spoon, a carving knife, a small flame projector for lighting oven burners and a three-fingered hand, along with many other gadgets. This way, a droid could make food much quicker than one organic chef, as it could be many things at once, such as apply spices, cut up food, and administer any final touches. After a meal was finished, a droid could serve the food and then replace its arms with cleaning tools, allowing it to quickly clean dishes.

A COO cook droid came from the factory with knowledge of hundreds of common recipes taken from the Humbarine Housekeepers HoloBook in its software. Thus, the droids knew nothing beyond simple, conventional recipes when they were purchased. Though it was possible to remove a droids software pack and replace it with another one that contained different recipes, this process was complex and involved partially disassembling the droid. It was impossible to tell what software a COO droid had—factory standard or a more advanced package—by simply looking at the droid. The droids were also known for being noted liars, and would tell a customer or owner anything if it would help the droid, such as by prolonging its lifespan.

Because of the difficulty of switching software, many owners did not change the droids' recipe package, leading to potential trouble if the default software package did not include any recipes favored by the droid's owner. This also convinced beings that the droid was a sloppy model, constructed lazily.

History
The COO cook droid was designed by Industrial Automaton, one of the leaders in droid manufacturing, sometime before 22 BBY. Though many cooks criticized the creation of a chef droid, arguing that a machine that couldn't even taste had no business making food, the public had no problem with such a droid. However, customers found the droid very difficult to use, due to the complex process of changing the recipe package.

The COO quickly became popular in military mess halls, where it could easily cook a large number of simple meals in a short time. This was in fact Industrial Automaton's idea when designing the droid. As the COO droid was incapable of cooking more sophisticated meals without a new software package, it was generally used for mass catering of orthodox meals, and eventually, customers began using the droid only to heat up meals or serve prepackaged food.

Around 22 BBY, the freighter Jendirian Valley overhauled its cargo holds to create room for sentients, and the ship began transporting refugees affected by the Separatist Crisis, and the growing Separatist movement known as the Confederacy of Independent Systems. The ship's operator purchased a used cook droid, COO-2180, to feed the refugees. The droid made simple meals purchased from a military surplus store, and was instructed to feed only organic beings. In 22 BBY, the freighter transported the Senator Padme Amidala and her guard, the Jedi Anakin Skywalker. The duo's droid, R2-D2, stole a meal for his masters, earning him the ire of COO-2180.

At some point, the notorious pirate Reginald Barkbone spent a month in space with a vegetarian COO droid while trying to escape the Loronar Navy. Barkbone had a very low opinion of the droid, calling the month with it the most miserable time he had spent in space.

Behind the scenes
The COO cook droid was created for the 2002 film Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. Much of the information about the droid was given in the 2006 reference book The New Essential Guide to Droids.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones