R2 makes a brief appearance half way thru.

[video link]

Related:

• BarBot 2010
• RoboGames 2009
• RoboGames 2008 Report

Matt and I took his droid to BarBot 2010 at the DNA Lounge in San Francisco last night.

BarBot is a celebration of cocktail culture and man-machine interface. Get a drink from an actual robot. Chat up a snarky electronic bartender. Listen to some graceful tunes being played by robotic music makers. And, after downing your sixth martini, you can finally admit that it’s the geeks who shall inherit the earth.

The event is hosted by Dave Calkins and Simone Davalos, fellow R2 Builders and the organizers of RoboGames.

Here’s Matt with his R2 serving some drinks

Here’s some of the bar tending Robots, both big and small, and made from all sorts of creative things like Lego and even triple action breast pumps.

This one one of the more fun interactive bots where you had to arm wrestle for your drink

More photos here

Here’s some photos from this years RoboGames, which is held annual in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Big thanks to Matt Mccormick and his me with Artoo at the end of the day.

Notice the thing around my neck? I won the Gold medal in the art bot category.

In the pits

More photos here.

Related:

• Servo Magazine RoboGames 2008 Coverage
• RoboGames 2008 – Day 1 Highlights
• RoboGames 2008 Report
• RoboGames 2007

We had a real good showing at WonderCon this year, with at least 6 builders in attendance, and 4 droids.

Here’s some of us after the Builders panel: Steve, Me, Don B, Tiny and Gerard

The panel was a huge success, with standing room only – I think it helped that we had Don Bies on the panel this year

We also got to meet Mike from TotallyWired, and saw some of the new parts he’s been developing.

Here’s some of my favorite shots from the day

R2 even did a couple of interviews thru the day

As always additional photos in the gallery.

Big thanks to the 501st and my fellow builders for helping throughout the day, and to Don Bies for joining us on the panel.

Additional Pictures, Video and Articles:

• Steve’s Flickr Photos
• Star Wars Blog – Flickr Photos
• Star Wars Blog: WonderCon R2 Builders Interview
• 1UP
• Random MySpace Video of the droids

Related:

• Loaded and Ready for WonderCon
• WonderCon Starts This Friday!
• More WonderCon Videos (2008)
  
• WonderCon Photo (2008)
  
• R2 Meets The Doctor
• Meet R2 Builders at WonderCon (2008)

I finally uploaded the photos from the last MakeSF Meetup I attended with Artoo. It was held at the Instructables.com HQ in San Francisco, and we had a pretty good turn out for a cold December evening.

MakeSF, is loosely associate with the Make Magazine / Maker Faire folks, and attended by a wide range of geeks, artists and engineer types from all over the Bay Area, who share projects they’re working on, skills and local resources. The events are always fun and you never know who’s going to be there or presenting.

I really enjoy taking Artoo apart and showing how he works

Typically at these events people stay in their seats, but It’s not only kids that can’t help swarming Artoo – We’re in there somewhere

Big thanks to fellow Makers for allowing me to share their photos.

Additional Photos

Related:

• Make Blog – Artoo featured
• MakeSF September Meetup
• Maker Faire : Intel Developer Forum
• Maker Faire Videos
• R2 Maker Faire News Coverage
• Maker Faire – Dance Program
• Maker Faire Photos
• Maker Faire Award

We’re all loaded and ready to head out to WonderCon

Hope to see you at the Droid panel on Saturday.

Related:

• WonderCon Starts This Friday!

WonderCon starts this Friday in San Francisco – Gerard, Steve, Tiny and I will be there with our droids and we’ll be hosting another builders panel.

It was a year ago that I first met Steve at WonderCon and got him hooked on droid building – he’ll be debuting R2-XS.

StarWars.com has also posted a run down on all things SW that will be happening that weekend, and it looks to be a busy one, with Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Daniel Logan, Ray Park and Matthew Wood will be there signing autographs.

Our panel is on Saturday at 12:30pm in room 236/238. If you’re planning on attending, please let me know or stop on by and say hi.

R2-D2 Droid Building Basics— Chris James, Ryan Goff, and Steve Simmons share their experiences and demonstrate working droids. Topics range from materials, tools needed, basic electronics, and radio control information to make your own R2 come to life! Special guest Don Bies, former ILM modelmaker and Star Wars Episodes 2 and 3 droid wrangler.

The full programming schedule is now online here.

Related:

• More WonderCon Videos
• WonderCon Photo
• R2 Meets The Doctor
• Meet R2 Builders at WonderCon

Here’s the episode of Systm featuring Artoo

Luke, Darth and Obi-Wan’s Lightsabers were pieced out of junk piles. David shows you how to build exact replicas and an original design from The Custom Saber Shop. Then he picks a fight with Patrick.

[Episode Information and download page]

[Youtube Version]

Related:

• Revision3 / Systm – Studio Visit