L3-G0 and Terrain

Artoo is a terrible mechanical design.  You can see that in some of Lucasfilm's R2-D2 Extras where they talk about building him and stuff.

For starters, the front foot appears to merely be there as something for him to trip over.  In the replica droid business this leads what is known as a "faceplant." Yes, L3-G0 has faceplanted (fortunately without the dome).

Lego R2-D2 doing the "Faceplant"

Basically, there's not enough distance in the front foot from the center of gravity to provide good leverage when you run into an obstacle.  In this case a sidewalk crack as I was trying to get in out of a light drizzle.

In order for the front wheel to turn, it's on casters, and those can't be very big because they'll hit the foot shell.  So the small diameter also makes it hard to cross cracks like the one at the bottom of the picture.  (I thought all of the cracks would be as small as the earlier cracks). 

L3-G0 is "worse" in this regard because the Lego bricks make his front foot shell pretty thick on the bottom, reducing the available wheel diameter to about 2" (about 5cm).  Another problem is that his front foot is hinged at the ankle (thinking about 2-3-2 mode), which means that if the front wheel drops in, then it stays.

 

Types of terrain that gives L3-G0 trouble

Any kind of bump is potentially disastrous.  So I really look out for those.  If the caster drops in or has to climb over, it leads to tripping.  If its "small enough" I try ramming it gently and seeing if he'll make it.  If not, then I either back over the obstacle or lift the front over it.

The gap in an elevator is usually "OK" and about the maximum that he can travel over.  Small door sills like on a front door are iffy, sometimes they work sometimes they don't.  Something like an extension cable at an event may be traversable, though high bumps can cause me to drag on the foot shell (he has about 1cm or 3/8th inch clearance)

If the terrain is too soft, then his wheels dig in.  This happens on padded carpet.  He either can't climb out or the foot shells can even ride on whatever it is.

Another problem is "rough" terrain.  The drive train can handle a sidewalk or pavement, but most exterior surfaces are pebbly and cause a lot of vibration, which wants to shake him (literally) to pieces.

There's also a limit to the incline L3-G0 can safely traverse.  Especially ramps going down he wants to coast and we have to use power to brake him.

So is there anything L3-G0 CAN drive on?

Fortunately most convention halls and public spaces have big flat smooth concrete floors.  I just have to watch for the expansion gaps between slabs and cable runs.  Most houses have similarly smooth slabs in their garages, but watch for the crack!  Driveways or streets are often too rough or steep.  (For Halloween we put out mats for him on our driveway).

He can usually climb the 1/4" onto the carpet some folks put down for their booths (like when he visited the Lego booth at Celebration).  The wood floor in our house is fine, though we have a 1/4" rise between rooms I have to watch.

Tile is another scary area because it has lots of little cracks, and can be rough on top depending on the style.  Close fitted tile or linoleum tiles are fine.

Industrial carpeted areas are usually OK, though they can drain the battery a bit more than concrete.  However the carpet in the lobby at Rose City (Oregon Convention Center) seems padded more than normal.  A typical house carpet is too soft to really be passable.

Wheelchair ramps are often a good path for him, not being too steep. 

What can be done?

As a practical thing, if I have complicated terrain, then I drive over it backwards.  The load is better distributed on the back feet that way, and he can drag the problematic front foot over whatever it is.  For the foot shell clearance issue, I raised the shell a tiny amount, which helped a lot.  (Some of the "real" Artoos have a gaping 1" or more clearance, but I think that looks funny)

Tracks (like a tank) could help some, but you still have steering issues.  Some builders have created a system that can navigate a grass yard (though that would shake L3-G0 apart).

Some of the fanciest systems have a single large diameter rotating wheel up front, sometimes even powered, but that typically requires complicated mechanical systems.

L3-G0 could also have a more rigid front ankle, however that can lead to other issues.  I've limited it's play a little, but he was designed to have it be flexible so stiffening it is tough.

Oliver and Lee came up with a system using a hub motor for Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens, which seems to help a lot.  Some of the other builders are trying that. (I confess that it's on L3-G0's to-do list).

In the meantime I watch out for rough surfaces.

And cracks.

Can Lego Bricks be Jinxed?

L3-G0 went to a small school's kid's dance last night. Everyone had a great time, and he danced with some of the kids.

Most of the kids at the school knew L3-G0 already, but they were happy that he could join in. Given the environment, there was a lot of touching and stuff, and eventually there was a small accident with his LEFT shoulder, which had to be repaired. And made me wonder if bricks can be cursed?

Is it possible to have unlucky bricks? Cursed? Jinxed? Did I run afoul of a Voodoo Doctor somewhere?

You see, there's a kind of Déjà vu here...

On the completed L3-G0's first outing, to Emerald City Comicon (ECCC), there was a bit of a mishap.  He was driving along and the escalator reached it's rail out to smash him in the right shoulder.  (I'm sure that's what happened, I would have never driven that close to the rail!)  Since the escalator was moving, bricks when flying everywhere.  Huge gasp from the crowd.  Very impressive.  We even got censured by security and prohibited from the escalator for some reason.

Then a bit later we took L3-G0 out to a friend's bookstore for Star Wars Day.  May the Fourth be With You!  Unfortunately there was an earthquake which opened a gap in the sidewalk, tripping L3-G0 and causing a faceplant, along with the right shoulder.  (I'm sure it was an earthquake, this is Seattle after all.  I'm sure it wasn't something so mundane as me trying to outrun the rain and not looking at the crack!)

(Ironically this is one of my favorite pictures of him.  I just love the Tuskan Raider's expression - it was he who invited me, and this is before the event I was supposed to participate in).
 

Wrecked Lego R2-D2

You don't get it, I know.  How is he cursed if those were the right shoulder, but the party broke the left.  Patience young Padawan, I'm getting there...

Next time the curse struck was at Rose City Comicon (RCCC, kinda like ECCC, but smaller).  Things were going well, but one of the vendors shoved his table out into his shoulder as I turned the corner (I'm sure that's what happened, I mean he looked nice and all, and the table was loaded with stuff so it looked like it couldn't possibly move, but there's no way I was inept enough to drive down a 50 foot path and smash into a table on one side).

You guessed it, the right shoulder was destroyed AGAIN!!!!  No pix, sorry.  Of course we're getting better at fixing the shoulder by now.

Mishap #4 was back at that accursed book store.  This time it was an endcap full of books that attacked.  Darth Vader was there and may have used the Dark Side to yank L3-G0 into the books.  This time we were picking right shoulder bricks out from between the books.

We had uneventful trips to Children's and some schools and work and stuff, but then it was time for Star Wars Celebration, Anaheim.  Which I know I still need to blog about, but until then he has some pix on facebook.

On the way down we stopped in Endor (Redwoods park) to take a cool photograph.  Unfortunately Lara stumbled.  I'm sure she was falling away from R2, but at the last instant she jumped towards him and smashed down on the... wait for it... right shoulder!  (You could've guessed by now.  The fifth time we smashed his right shoulder).  Fortunately a couple kind schoolteachers helped get the bricks out of the dirt and a while later we were ready for the pictures.


L3-G0 smashed shoulder on Endor (Redwood's National Park)

After several stops (including LEGOLAND) we reached Celebration!  And there was a lot of activity, running around, launching lightsabers and generally showing off, which all went pretty smoothly.

Buttons Front!

R2 Builders have had huge debates and discussions about "Buttons Front" or "Buttons Back".  You see, at the top of his legs, each of Artoo's shoulder has 2 buttons on one side and a hydraulic bar on the other side.  Unfortunately the legs are kind of interchangeable, so in some scenes and movies, they're flipped, sometimes buttons are front, sometimes buttons are back.

At Celebration we met Lee and Oliver, a couple great fellow builders who built R2-D2 for Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens!  (Way to go guys, he looks great!)  Anyway, building Artoo for the movie they had to make a decision, and the decided "Buttons Front."

That's all well and good, however L3-G0 was built "Buttons Back".  I don't remember all of my reasoning, but thought about flipping the shoulders.  On day three, we were hanging out by the Sandcrawler, and someone teased us that Oliver had said "Buttons Front". 

I was like "fine", and ripped the shoulders off and flipped them, putting the left shoulder on the right side and the left on the right.  I think I surprised him, most builders are pretty picky about the buttons decision.  They're symmetrical so it was pretty easy and I'd been thinking about it anyway.  I thought it looked a little funny at first, but now I don't notice.

What do Buttons have to do with this story?

Now that you ask, an interesting thing happened.  A little bit after I swapped the shoulders we had what I call "The Great Parking of the Droids".  We all got together for a group photo.  As you can imagine, it took forever, but it was tons of fun.  Notice the buttons front in the picture.

The Great Parking of the Droids, L3-G0 and R2-KT

Of course there was lots of maneuvering and people getting their droids into place. During all of that activity someone was a little unbalanced and reached for... wait for it.... Can you guess?  L3-G0's LEFT shoulder.  Small pile of bricks on the floor, fortunately not too bad of a fix.

Got that?  His right shoulder was smashed 5 times, then we flipped the bricks around and the next time it was the left shoulder, SAME BRICKS!  They must be cursed.

Which brings us back to the dance.  No picture, but there was a small oops and L3-G0's left shoulder fell apart onto the dance floor.  Now it's twice since moving the bricks to the other side.

So Can Lego Bricks be Jinxed?

L3-G0 is made out of Lego, and all sorts of things happen, his feet have to be snapped back together quite often as that what sticks out the most.  His head gets dizzy and bricks wiggle loose.  The dog's stepped on his head.  We've fried electronics, etc, etc.  But smashed shoulders is one of the most annoying problems and he's had his shoulders destroyed a total of 7 times now.  It's been different shoulders now, but the same bricks all seven times!

The totally random odds of having two shoulders and smashing the same shoulder bricks 7 times in a row is 1 in 128.  Kind of between the odds of rolling double sixes on 2 dice and triple sixes on 3 dice.  I use to think I was just leading with the right shoulder somehow, but now???  I thought it was bad when it was 4 in a row.

I think he's got some cursed bricks.  Maybe they were bought from a seller that runs a Voodoo shop on the side or something.  Somehow his bricks have been jinxed.  Maybe it's just the main ones that connect to the rest of the leg.  Maybe it's the whole thing.  At least I know which side is L3-G0's unlucky one!