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 repair 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 to control flight and power distribution systems. 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. However, certain other droids, such as C-3PO, could understand the binary code of astromechs, and often translated from binary to other languages.

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 before the Assault on Starkiller Base a new class of astromech droid known as the BB unit was created, which had a head similar to that of the original R-series Astromech droid, but had a spherical body.



Non-canon appearances

 * William Shakespeare's The Phantom of Menace: Star Wars Part the First
 * Epic Yarns: A New Hope
 * Epic Yarns: The Empire Strikes Back
 * Epic Yarns: Return of the Jedi
 * Jakku Spy
 * Disney Infinity 3.0
 * LEGO Star Wars: Droid Tales Episodes I-III
 * Star Tours: The Adventures Continue
 * LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens
 * LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens