Droid
Encyclopedia
Droids are robotic machines, as found in Star Wars
films, books and television series. Mostly created for Star Wars by Special Effects worker John Stears
, the term is a clipped
form of android. The word "droid" is a registered trademark of Lucasfilm
Ltd.
Droids (sometimes also 'droids, short for androids), were robots: mechanical beings, often possessing artificial intelligence. They were used in a variety of roles and environments, often those considered too menial or too dangerous for humans and other species. Droids were also used in fields that required extensive specialization and knowledge, such as medical droids and astromech droids.
Depending on the model and its corresponding purpose, droids were totally obedient, rugged, expendable, capable of vast memory recall, and mathematically precise. These characteristics made them well suited for many jobs, though the lack of independent thought in the cheaper, less advanced models limited their capability. This lack of autonomy was simultaneously a vast asset and a glaring weakness—an asset in terms of obedience and control but a massive drawback in terms of effectiveness. Designers faced a fundamental paradox—make the droids overly intelligent, and they might rebel; yet make the droids not intelligent enough and they would be ineffectual.
The term "Droid" has been used by Verizon Wireless under license from Lucasfilm, for their line of smartphone
s based on the Android operating system. Motorola's late-2009 Google Android-based cell phone is called the Droid
. This line of phone has been expanded to include other Android-based phones released under Verizon, including the HTC Droid Eris, the HTC Droid Incredible
, Motorola Droid X
, Motorola Droid 2
, and Motorola Droid Pro
. The term was also used for EditDroid
, a non-linear editing system developed for Lucasfilm.
Star Wars: Droids
Star Wars: Droids, also known as Droids: The Adventures of R2-D2 and C-3PO, was an animated television series that featured the exploits of R2-D2 and C-3PO, the droids who have appeared in all six Star Wars films...
films, books and television series. Mostly created for Star Wars by Special Effects worker John Stears
John Stears
John Stears known as 'the Dean of Special Effects' and 'The Real Q' was an Academy Award winning special effects expert, who created James Bond's lethal Aston Martin DB5, Luke Skywalker's Landspeeder, the Jedi Knights' lightsabers, the endearing robots R2-D2 and C-3PO as well as a host of other...
, the term is a clipped
Clipping (morphology)
In linguistics, clipping is the word formation process which consists in the reduction of a word to one of its parts . Clipping is also known as "truncation" or "shortening."...
form of android. The word "droid" is a registered trademark of Lucasfilm
Lucasfilm
Lucasfilm Limited is an American film production company founded by George Lucas in 1971, based in San Francisco, California. Lucas is the company's current chairman and CEO, and Micheline Chau is the president and COO....
Ltd.
Droids (sometimes also 'droids, short for androids), were robots: mechanical beings, often possessing artificial intelligence. They were used in a variety of roles and environments, often those considered too menial or too dangerous for humans and other species. Droids were also used in fields that required extensive specialization and knowledge, such as medical droids and astromech droids.
Depending on the model and its corresponding purpose, droids were totally obedient, rugged, expendable, capable of vast memory recall, and mathematically precise. These characteristics made them well suited for many jobs, though the lack of independent thought in the cheaper, less advanced models limited their capability. This lack of autonomy was simultaneously a vast asset and a glaring weakness—an asset in terms of obedience and control but a massive drawback in terms of effectiveness. Designers faced a fundamental paradox—make the droids overly intelligent, and they might rebel; yet make the droids not intelligent enough and they would be ineffectual.
The term "Droid" has been used by Verizon Wireless under license from Lucasfilm, for their line of smartphone
Smartphone
A smartphone is a high-end mobile phone built on a mobile computing platform, with more advanced computing ability and connectivity than a contemporary feature phone. The first smartphones were devices that mainly combined the functions of a personal digital assistant and a mobile phone or camera...
s based on the Android operating system. Motorola's late-2009 Google Android-based cell phone is called the Droid
Motorola Droid
The Motorola Droid is an Internet and multimedia enabled smartphone designed by Motorola, which runs Google's Android operating system. The Droid had been publicized under the codenames Sholes and Tao and the model number A855...
. This line of phone has been expanded to include other Android-based phones released under Verizon, including the HTC Droid Eris, the HTC Droid Incredible
Droid Incredible
The HTC DROID Incredible is a smartphone manufactured by HTC Corporation using the Android operating system. The DROID Incredible was released on April 29, 2010, and is available through Verizon Wireless only. The device is similar to the Sprint HTC Evo 4G...
, Motorola Droid X
Motorola Droid X
The Motorola Droid X is a smartphone manufactured by Motorola Mobility, Inc. that runs the Android 2.3 software; the version of the hardware released in Mexico is called the Motorola Motoroi X. The Droid X has been distributed since July, 2010 by Verizon Wireless in the United States and Iusacell...
, Motorola Droid 2
Motorola Droid 2
The Motorola Droid 2 is the fifth phone in Verizon's Droid line. In the U.S., it is available exclusively on Verizon Wireless, and was released August 12, 2010 . It runs the Android operating system by Google, and can run Flash Player 10.1...
, and Motorola Droid Pro
Motorola Droid Pro
The Motorola Droid Pro, also offered by Sprint as the Motorola XPRT, is an Android-based smartphone manufactured by Motorola and released on November 18, 2010, for Verizon Wireless and June 5, 2011, for Sprint...
. The term was also used for EditDroid
EditDroid
The EditDroid was a computerized analog NLE , developed by Lucasfilm spin-off company, the Droid Works and Convergence Corporation who formed a joint venture company. The company existed up through the mid-80's to the early 90's in an attempt to move from analog editing methods to digital...
, a non-linear editing system developed for Lucasfilm.