So, it’s been a while since I’ve had the screwdrivers and soldering iron out for fun, so figured I’d start a new project and share it with you guys. What I’m working on this time is a toy hack rather than a scratch build, and for this I’ll be using the R2-D2 Interactive Astromech Droid from Hasbro.
For those of you who don’t know, this was released in 2002 and was fully voice controlled (no smart phone or R/C controllers). I purchased this off eBay a couple of years back and after finding out that the voice recognition wasn’t that great (not for me anyway), I was going to do an EZ-Robot conversion similar to what DJ and a few others did... but, as some of you know, I ended up scratch building a full size droid instead so it got packed away and forgot about it.
Recently my girlfriends granddaughter has shown an interest in robotics so I have started helping her out and introducing her to EZ-Robot. While searching for robot bits and peices, I can across the little droid and have set about giving him a new lease of life and make him better than he ever was using a EZ-B v4/2 dev kit and a few sensors etc.
Here goes. Enjoy. 
Other robots from Synthiam community
Thetechguru's Long Lasting Roli
Louis's The Real Wall-E By Louis T
I think R2 has a secret dark side. A little bit more fun with this crazy droid. Enjoy...
Fun ! I enjoy the marching !
there is that screem again .haha
the sound is really good.
Pleased you enjoyed the video guys
. Weather is still pretty rubbish where I am so had some time to play.
This is really awesome!
I'm a complete noob when it comes to this but I have the Hasbro R2-D2 and was considering hacking him. Is it possible to just change:
A: Original voice recognition phrases? ex. Change "Hey R2" to "Hey BB-8"
B: Change his sound fx responses?
Basically hacking and using the current software/hardware without installing new ones?
Again, I don't really have experience with this but thought it would be a fun project!
Thanks!
@Maverick96.
Thanks for the comment. So answering your questions...
A.) To change the existing speech recognition software on the existing hardware would be a difficult task and from what I know, you would need specialized equipment to do so, it it’s actually possible.
B.) To change the existing sfx and phrases would be equally difficult to do for the same reasons mentioned above.
As you mentioned that you are new to this, trying to customise the original software would be an extremely difficailt task for you to perform, in no impossible. The best solution is to do the modification I and others did, and replace the original circuitry with an EZ-B v4/2 or an IoTiny. Then you can get to use some of the many tools available in ARC to make your R2 so much better than it is now, and that includes making up your own speech recognition phrases, and adding your own sound fx and phrases like I did.
Thank you for your feedback. I appreciate the honesty!
I noticed you did a K-9 build which is awesome. I am a huge fan of the Baker doctor and K-9 so my logic was to try to take and use R2-D2's interactive insides and repurpose them into a K-9 unit. Possibly using this RC K-9 toy. I have no prior experience but love to try new things so I was thinking sticking with R2's software/hardware would make it easier which doesn't seem the case!
If you don’t mind the question Steve G, if I were to try and convert the RC K9 mentioned above, would the IoTiny work? any benefits to using EZ-B instead? Thanks?