Customer Reviews

Star Wars Interactive R2D2

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(18)

 

 

After reading the description, I had fairly low hopes for it, but it was a great deal on one of the black friday deals, so I bit the bullet and purchased it. I received it quickly, and put on the pieces that were not initially attached. Those pieces seemed cheap compared to the rest of the well-built unit. I put the batteries in, and turned it on, and tried the list of voice commands. A lot of the time, R2 would beep and shake his head "No". It got very frustrating, so I turned it off and gave up.

This ended up being my fault. I read through the directions the next day (why would I do that initially) and found that I had not activated his moving mechanism - the red light on the front - so he could not move, and refused to do a lot of the commands.

Once that was figured out, R2 became a blast to play with. He understands most of the commands on the first try, with the trick being to pause between some of the words and wait for his acknowledgment with his "yes beep".

Being the geek that I am, I would highly recommend this toy for fans of star wars.

This is the one the neighbor kids want to play with when they come over. They are fascinated by it. They really enjoy turning off the lights and letting the robot play light tag with them. I bought it from amazon last year and we've never had a problem with it. I am always afraid the kids will break it but Artoo keeps on plugging and he's still going a year later. It can take a little practice to get the voice commands, but one of my two year old son's first spoken words last year was "hey, Artoo!" Mine never runs into walls or anything. He even handles rough carpet and finds his way around furniture. We got a good deal from Amazon and it was one of the best toys we've had.

Most of the other posts I have seen to date have been true in my experience as well. R2 has a personality that requires patience to learn, but once you get to know him, he is a lot of fun and makes an excellent companion. Getting to know him is many ways similiar to getting to know a new pet. One my favorite features is his "Room Guard" Mode, where he lights up and makes noise if his sensors detect an intruder. I let him guard my bedroom at night, and he does a fine job.

Only two downsides in my opinion - He takes 4 D size batteries and 4 AA size batteries that he can go through fairly quickly. I recommend rechargable batteries. Changing his batteries requires unscrewing a panel on his backside, which can be a bit tedious. If he could be recharged simply by plugging him into an adapter, that would be nice.

The other downside is that he may be easily damaged if small children pick him up and bang him around too much. The instruction manual explicitly warns to NOT let R2 fall down stairs or go outside. Still, in the hands of someone who knows how to be nice to their toys, he will be fine.

All toy robots suffer from the problem that once you've experienced all their routines, interest often wanes quickly. R2D2 is no exception, however he has enough personality to stay fun even after you've seen his capabilities. Nice touches like turning his head toward you to listen when he hears his name, and the emotion-conveying beeps leaving exact meaning to the imagination obfuscate his limited programming. Telling him, "behave yourself," then "time out," sends him away from you sulking to a dark corner of the room. It's pretty much the saddest thing I've ever seen a robot do and always makes me want to interact with him more to cheer him up! R2 requires patience, but is a charming companion for kids young and old. You will not regret getting him.

Here are a few under-mentioned tips for interacting with and fully enjoying this robot:

Hit him on the head to stop him from doing anything. Yes, he's voice activated, but you will still have to interact with him physically once in awhile to snap him out of funny modes. Followup a tap with a new command or he will return to his previous behavior. Hit him too many times in a row and he'll get mad and scared!

R2 has a hard time moving around in small spaces. His obstacle avoidance skills are top notch, so top notch that in a hallway, for example, he can get trapped between the walls, never finding the narrow path out. I recommend using him in bigger spaces. My apartment living room is barely big enough for him to explore successfully on his own.

He sometimes gets in a mode not mentioned in the command cheat sheets but eluded to in the manual. Say, "game mode," "answer this" and he watches you! It can be a little disconcerting because it's not always clear what he's doing at first, his head movements can be jerky and spastic, and he ironically doesn't respond to verbal commands just like any other time he's in motion. I believe he's SUPPOSED to respond to questions, but if his head turns while asking he misses it. I found that asking a question and following it with a clap or a tap on his chest is about 50% successful in making him randomly shake his head no or make a positive sounding set of chirps. Think of him as a partially deaf electronic magic 8 ball. I believe that because this mode is so unreliable it was omitted from the later versions' instructions, but it's still programed in. Don't mistake this mode for dead batteries; just hit him on the head to snap him out of it. Or let him do it for awhile to keep him occupied or weird out friends.

Similarly, the easter egg "follow me" mode locks him out of verbal commands. In a confined space it can be more like a "fear me" mode as he backs away from anything near him. Backing him into a corner is often easier than leading him into a room if the room is small. In more open spaces it works great. Again, hit him on the head to snap him out of it.

R2 always draws attention at parties, at least from my nerdy friends, and definitely entertains the guests. Just be aware that it can't be too loud for the voice commands to work. It's still fun, though, because he'll think he heard a command and take off doing something unexpected.

I only wish that in "command mode" there were more things you could program him to do sequentially. You can plot a course with a string of directions, but how about doing a dance, turning on his light, or finding a person after moving somewhere? I'd love to have him be able to play back a message you record, too. I hope there will be future versions that incorporate these ideas.

Cool toy. He doesn't follow directions every time but its often enough to be a lot of fun. He works better when the background noise is kept to a minimum (like turning the TV off). The "Dance program", "Remember Darth Vader" and "Play message" responses are especially entertaining to Star Wars fans. Once he has you trained to wait for his responses (positive or negative), he works much better. Battery life seems pretty good. Santa had been watching these for a while and finally jumped on it when it was an Amazon lightning deal before Christmas and it is well worth that price.

I bought this product 2 months ago for a Christmas present and was so excited for my son to open today today (christmas morning)... after playing with it I decided I had to immediately write a review! First of all, if you have no patience this is NOT the toy for you, this is what I get from the people with bad reviews. You have to get to know him, learn what makes him happy and what makes him sad/mad. When I first turned him on, he seemed almost scared/sad but he cheered up just by talking with him (really I didnt even give him commands) just let him beep back at whatever I said to him, he likes to talk! Then I started with commands of people I knew would make him happy! If he does get in a bad mood, you may have to tell him several times to "behave yourself!" and then "reset system" brings back to normal. You get used to his beeps, and if you are boring or annoying him he'll walk away lol. He heard a movie on the tv and rolled in front of it, turned towards the tv and watched it (no command used, he just sensed the noise from the tv). Make sure to pause and give him time to respond to the steps in the manual and he responds to much more than is listed, I already had him doing several other songs & dances. I think his stubborn nature makes him a little more fun, if he did only do just what I wanted him to then he would be kinda boring and we'd be bored of him. My son calls him his "pet R2D2"... my son has more trouble controlling him, but hes only 4 and doesnt get yet to pause to get him to understand commands but he loves just talking to him and seeing what hes up to lol unfortunately my son likes to upset R2 by asking him about Darth Vader! but I have quickly learned how to fix this problem! I love this toy, it really has a personality of its own!

This little replica R2-D2 interactive droid is really fun!
There are all sorts of commands for R2 to follow and also some games
I was searching around on YouTube and came across a bunch of videos of this R2-D2
interactive droid and found out there are "easter egg" there like hidden commands that
are not listed in the manual, this is very cool.
The best video was R2-D2 vs the household dog lol.
This is AWESOME it will probably be a sought after collectible in the future.
I'm glad I have one in my possesion!

While an expensive gizmo, it certainly is a lot of fun. With lots of pre-programmed activities and responses, it can provide hours of fun. The responses to questions about "Do you remember..." and then character names from the Star Wars movie. Are quite fun. Then, little R2D2 can take an attitude and refuse to do what you want. (If it gets too sassy, you can command him to return to obedience.) Lots of fun!

The item was shipped just in time for Christmas. My boys love playing with R2 even though it does not recognize their commands all the time. Overall, we're happy with it.

I (Santa) got this for my 6 year old son for Christmas '09. He was so thrilled! At first it took a little while for him to get the hang of giving R2 commands...you have to pace your commands and you can't talk too quickly. But once he got the hang of it he was in HEAVEN! R2 has a large variety of interactive commands/activites. He plays messages, music, games and can even "guard" a room against intruders. All my son's friends love R2, and adults get a kick out of him, too. My youngest son, who is now 3, has a great time with it, too...but he has no idea how to operate it. :) We are very happy with this purchase and are happy to see the kids enjoying it even now, almost a year later. Hopefully R2 will stick around for years to come.

Cons - Commands have to be delivered in a specific way (instructions are very clear)
- Room has to be quiet or R2 gets "confused" and won't respond

Pros - Cool factor
- Secret commands not listed on instructions are exciting for kids to discover (internet
searches help)
- Durable
- Rolls well, even on carpet