Fromm Tower Droid

The Fromm Tower Droid was a Droid tank design created by Tig Fromm, hence the name Fromm.

Description
The Fromm Tower Droid was four meters tall and symmetrical front and aft. Its engines and drivetrain were housed within a squat, armoured chassis which also porvided the foundation of the tower assembly. It stood on six large pneumatic wheels. These tires have a self-healing mechanism allowing them to traverse a wide variety of terrains, making them invincible. Tower Droids could travel at a maximum speed of 100 kph on flat terrain.

Its cylindrical tower assembly was able to rotate at a 360 degree angle and was covered by a saucer-shaped head which contained its primary cognitive module. It received orders via a broadband antenna which received orders from a central command center and transmitted guidance date to seeker drones. Such droids had no developed personalities, thus allowing them to perform their duties as perimeter sentries without questioning their orders. The rim of its head was dotted with several detection devices including auditory, electromagnetic, infrared, radionic, seismic and visual sensors.

The Fromm Tower Droid's arnament were four laser cannons and two firing racks of repulsor balls beneath its sliding chest panels. This antigravity repulsor balls were small and maneuverable and could outrun a speeding vehicle at speeds of over 250 kph. When at nearly one meter of their target, the repulsor balls would detonate. About five of these repulsor balls could be remotely piloted by its parent Tower Droid at a time.

Operational History
These droids were designed and manufactured by the Annoo-dat Tig Fromm, the son of the gangster Sise Fromm and the leader of the Fromm Gang which controlled several systems near Annoo. Tig saw droids as superior to sentient beings since they were loyal, durable and could carry more firepower.

In 15 BBY, the Fromm Gang had begun to invest heavily in a covert project to build a powerful weapons satellite dubbed The Trigon 1. Using its orbital laser and an army of clones created though Imperial granted Spaarti cloning cylinders, Tig and his father Sise began making ambitious power grabs in their home system of Annoo.

Threatening local farmers into submission, the Fromms had garnered an economic chokehold on the nearby systems including the planet Ingo in complete defiance of the newly established Galactic Empire. The Fromms were playing a dangerous game, but their wild power-gambles were beginning to pay off in a way similar to Prince Xizor's later, more subtle political maneuverings to displace the Emperor.

However, when a series of events involving the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO destroyed the Trigon, the Fromm palace and a large number of Tower Droids, Jabba the Hutt made a political power-play that would rob Sise's heir of his birthright to the title "The Number One Gangster In The Galaxy." The quick-witted Hutt struck while the iron was hot and placed a bounty on the heads of the entire Fromm organization, aiming to crush them while they were still reeling from their losses. Through a series of bad turns with the bounty hunter Boba Fett, the Tig was captured and executed along with his father and Vlix, their chief officer of security.

Following this, there were only 431 of these Tower Droids left. As a result, rival crime syndicates seized the remaining Tower Droids and they could be found in a variety of groups ranging from planatery governments, to rebel roups, arm dealers and even collectors.

Appearances

 * Droids: The Adventures of R2-D2 and C-3PO