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R2 WonderCon coverage at SW.com

Chris — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 05:00:24 +0000

Bonnie Burton over at the Official SW Blog did a real nice write up of our attendance at WonderCon this year, including some great photos and videos – check it out.

WonderCon 2010 – Sunday Highlights

Chris — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 04:19:26 +0000

Here’s some photos and video from our WonderCon on Sunday, including our R2 Builders Panel.

Sundays builders in attendance: Me, Steve, Matt, Grant and Gerard.

This is the first year where we’ve done two days of WonderCon with our droids, but we were locked into Sunday because our panel was that day. With it being Easter Sunday we were a little concerned that attendance would be low. We were also going to be one of the last panels of the day, and on top of that they put is in a much bigger room this year. But about 10 minutes before the start people began to line up outside and we just about filled the room. We were told it was probably the fullest panel on the Mezz level all weekend.

Link to YouTube video.

We bumped into Bonnie Burton from SW.com early on Sunday morning.

I just had to get a photo with Wolverine Solo

I lost count how many hugs Artoo got thru the day

We also did a couple of interviews, or at least Artoo did

Lots of children in attendance this year, and I don’t think Artoo made any cry

Artoo got to meet a couple of celebrities again, incl. Peter Mayhew and Lou Ferrigno

Before the panel started I got to speak with some future builders who had questions about the controller

Matt did an awesome job of leading the panel

To mix things up I drove Artoo into the audience thru the presentation, sometimes responding to Matt’s point in the presentation to point out or demo something on the droid or even to heck or beep at back at him. The crowd love it

The room was just about full and we got some great questions and feedback from the attendees

After the panel was done we hung out side to try and answer more questions – And wanting to share I sometime entrust my Artoo for others to try out, this was Barry driving him. He’s one of the official WonderCon photographers who’s shared some great photos with us over the years.

We were done by 4pm and I was feeling good that the weekend went well. As I went to pick up the van, my wife took this photo of Artoo carrying his new backpack ready to drive out. It thought it look like he was at an airport ready to go on holiday after a busy few days of work

I owe a big thanks to Matt for organizing our attendance this year, and also to Gerard for coming back in on Sunday to help as our backup handler. I can’t stress enough how important it is to have an extra set of hands. As far as I’m concerned it’s almost impossible to have a stress free day if you try and attend an event like this on your own.

As usual many more photos can be found in the gallery.

Related:

My Leia Hologram

Chris — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 00:29:26 +0000

Bonnie Burton shot this video of my Artoo at WonderCon this morning. Enjoy.

Link to the original youtube video.

WonderCon 2010 – Saturday

Chris — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 03:47:23 +0000

Here’s some photos and video from our first real day at WonderCon.

More photos here.

Related:

Mini Dolly to the Rescue

Chris — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 20:05:36 +0000

Nearly ever droid builder I know lugs around a large cart just in case their droid fails. This is especially needed for those of us with drive systems that lock when no powered is applied to the motors. Knock on wood, I’ve never needed to use my cart and it’s always stayed in the van.

Well, at WonderCon last week Gerard showed us his latest find – mini 6″ tri-wheel dollies that’s can easily be place under each drive wheel. They’re small and light enough to throw in your backpack or toolbox.

Only downside is the wheels are pretty small so wouldn’t go over any major bumps or door jams easily, and I wouldn’t recommend using them to totally replace your cart, especially if you use it all the time. Never the less, I went straight out and bought a set to have in case of an emergency.

Here’s Gerard in action pushing his droid around on two of these

[Direct link to Youtube video]

Manufacturer: Sheperd Hardware
Mode Number: 9299
Approx Price: $9

Available at Home Depot, Ace Hardware, etc. Cheapest online location: Ace Hardware Outlet ($5 ea.)

WonderCon 2009

Chris — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 03:39:50 +0000

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

Chris — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 18:55:06 +0000

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!

Steve and R2-XS

Chris — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 06:55:10 +0000

Here’s Steve with R2-XS!

I’d popped over tonite to help with some minor tuning before WonderCon, and to start loading the van.

You can’t really tell by this single photo, but the paint is actually a purple/blue chameleon formula that changes color in different lighting.

He even has a matching purple interior.

Here’s a short video of XS in action, he’s pretty speedy even with the heavy Optima battery in there