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Blog R2D2 Hasbro toy upgrade
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  • Author Author: bobosaurous
  • Date Created: 9 Feb 2025 8:11 PM Date Created
  • Views 3410 views
  • Likes 7 likes
  • Comments 21 comments
  • rpibeginner
  • raspberrypi
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R2D2 Hasbro toy upgrade

bobosaurous
bobosaurous
9 Feb 2025

 Hey everyone! I’m very new here and just wanted to introduce myself and share a project I'm working on. The idea came to me when I was digging through storage and found my old Hasbro interactive R2-D2 from 2002, sitting there covered in dust and looking lifeless. I couldn’t help but feel bad for him. This toy brought me a lot of joy as a kid, allowing me to pretend I was Luke Skywalker, off on adventures with my loyal companion, R2. So, I grabbed R2 and took him home.

  The first thing I did was take R2 apart. I stripped out his old brain and circuit boards but left the motors intact. I bought two Raspberry Pi units: a Raspberry Pi 4B with 2GB of RAM to control his wheels, head, sound, and any other physical features I might want to add, like an arm or two. The second unit is a Raspberry Pi 5 with 8GB of RAM, which will serve as R2's main brain. I have most of the parts ordered besides the PI HAT+. a little pricey but man, wouldn't it be worth it?!

here are some pics of my project so farimageimage

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Top Comments

  • rsc
    rsc over 1 year ago +1
    R2 reminds me of a robot a friend of mine built in 1984 with a big bucket full of batteries and three 12VDC motorized wheels. He had an RCA video camcorder on top with a full duplex 27mhz transmitter so…
  • robogary
    robogary over 1 year ago +1
    very cool. Alot could be done with that much brainpower. Are you adding cameras with some type of object recognition ? Manual cellphone controls via bluetooth or wifi, or old fashioned FHSS radio control…
  • beacon_dave
    beacon_dave over 1 year ago in reply to bobosaurous +1
    Just need to get the holographic projector sorted first
  • someguy
    someguy 6 months ago

    I came across this because I just ordered one off ebay for my son, and while its cool, I thought the same thing you thought. With the tech we have now, how much cooler could we make this! 

    Have you gotten anywhere with it yet? Just curious because once my son gets tired of it, I'm going to pull him apart and tinker

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  • genebren
    genebren over 1 year ago

    Welcome to the element14 community.  There have been a few other members here that have shared their R2D2 projects, look around and see what others have tried.

    Not exactly in the same scope of project, but I am working on hacking a couple of old Furbies for my Grandchildren.  Here is a shot of the fully articulated eye mechanism that I am working on:

    image

    I am awaiting new servos, as the initial design would not quite fit into the plastic case of the Furby.

    I wish you luck on your project!

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  • DAB
    DAB over 1 year ago

    Sounds like a fun project.

    I look forward to your updates.

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  • bobosaurous
    bobosaurous over 1 year ago in reply to beacon_dave

    he will be able to control any screen in the house through the network for sure!

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  • beacon_dave
    beacon_dave over 1 year ago in reply to bobosaurous

    As a party trick you could perhaps have R2D2 wirelessly screen share with a display screen already in the room, such that it appears as if it is a projection.

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