I’ve been busy getting Artoo ready for RoboGames this weekend, and needed to buy some bits and pieces at the local Ace Hardware store in Pacifica.

I thought I’d finally take Artoo over for a visit. Dave the owner is a big Star Wars fan, and I’ve gotten to know a lot of the staff really well. They’ve always been super polite and put up with my crazy questions and ramblings when I’m trying to MacGyver something.

I also figured this would also be a good test of the new wheel/caster setup before I head out for a long weekend at RoboGames.

To my surprise the new casters were much better on the van’s loading ramp, and made easy work of the asphalt parking lot. He had a spot of bother with the big door jam going into the store, he almost made it over but not quite. On the way out I approached it at and angle, and after a bit of wiggling of the joystick made it out without me having to lift the front foot. I really don’t think the omni’s would have made it either, so right now I’m more than happy on how the wheel casters performed.

The visit turned into a bit of a mini event with lots of customers interested in knowing more about my creation – and I proudly told them how much Ace product was in him.

We patrolled the aisles searching of spare parts

When stumbled upon Lee at the hardware section – there’s probably 100’s of screws in Artoo from these bins. I also have to thank Lee for special ordering me some of the ‘mythical’ 3 inch casters.

On the way out we bumped into Dave, the store owner. We hung out for a while and talked about his love of Star Wars and how I envied all the resources he had at his disposal to build Astromechs – maybe he’s got the bug? I’m not sure 🙂