For two weekends, I have now taken my R2 out to get the last bugs out!
I started last weekend with a trial run at a friends birthday party. The kids went nuts and LOVED it!
R2 danced with the kids and posed for pictures. His presence was much appreciated!

During the week, I’ve experimented with the new control system, but there are a few issues there that I’m not all happy with yet, so I had to go back to the radio control, since I wanted to bring R2 to my weekly business meeting!

Every Friday, I eat lunch with about 60 people. A great bunch of people that I’ve gotten to know over the past year and a half, and they have been aware of my project of building this droid. Since he was finished, I had asked for a little time during this meeting to present R2.

When taking the droid home, on the subway, it took me 40 minutes to take him ONE block, due to so many kids, parents, people wanted to see him, take pictures with him and generally asked questions about him. It was great!

However, the cobblestones did not fare well with the center ankle/foot mounting, so the center foot was loose after the little outing.

An hour and a half later, I had removed the existing screws (one of them was bent, due to the full weight of the droid pushing down on this point), increased the holes in the ankle, inserted pieces of aluminium pipe into the ankle holes, and ended up with two thick 6mm screws through the sides of the foot, in to the ankle and out the other side.

This has now firmly locked the ankle in position, and it will not move again. Ever. 😉

I test drove it again on Saturday, at yet another friend that had a kid that had a birthday. Worked like a charm! However, this time, I had some electronics issues, but I’ve narrowed them down to a faulty USB cable in between my power distribution board and my bluetooth speakers! *phew* ! =)

Next up: Finish up the new droid controller in time for ScifiWorld!