R5-series astromech droid

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"A meter-tall stack of the worst business decisions you could possibly want."

―Mechtech Illustrated, criticizing the R5-series^[4]

The R5-series astromech droid, also known as the R2-5, was a line of low-cost astromech droids built by Industrial Automaton. Based upon the success of prior astromech models, such as the wildly popular R2-series, Industrial Automaton intended the R5-series to cater to budget buyers at the cost of some functionality.

Description

The R5-series astromech followed the standard R-series design, with a barrel-shaped body shell and three treaded legs.^[1] The droid's head was an R2n Agromech Head^[5] which was likened to a "flowerpot", and the radar eye that was present on previous models was replaced with three small photoreceptors.^[1]

Each droid had a heavy grasper with a twenty-five kilogram lifting capacity, and a fine manipulator arm that had a placement accuracy of less than one micrometer. Standard equipment included a holoprojector, arc welder, circular saw, and a fire extinguisher.^[1]

Industrial Automaton insisted on cutting corners in the R5's design, resulting in the unit's behavioral circuitry matrix being prone to glitches over time, leading to droids developing caustic, disagreeable,^[1] and quirky personality.^[3] R5s were capable of holding coordinates for only a single hyperspace jump in their active memory.^[1] The droid was also not tough enough to survive in harsh environments such as the Outer Rim Territories.^[3]

Role

The R5-series was put into production by Industrial Automaton president Julynn Kentas in an attempt to cash in on the popularity of the company's R2-series.^[6] It was commissioned with no clear market or functionality in mind,^[1] and without any market testing to see if the droid-buying public wanted or needed a new model of astromech. The concept was to create an economy version of the R2,^[6] but the R5 lacked the versatility and "can-do" attitude that was the hallmark of the previous model. Essentially, Industrial Automaton created a new droid series not because of market demand, but because they could.^[1]

History

Hundreds of thousands of R5 units were produced and sold^[3] but the line was unpopular and a marketing failure.^[6] Mechtech Illustrated called the R5 "a meter-tall stack of the worst business decisions you could possibly want."^[4] The defining trait of the R5-series was its cheapness. While droid dealers attempted to promote the unit as the least expensive astromech on the market, the consumers who bought it decried it as an inferior product that was not worth half the price.^[1]

Complaints about the droid flooded in to Industrial Automaton, with common issues being chronic overheating, jammed servos, loose bearings, and blown motivators. The first quarter sales figures were dismal, followed by several lamentable sales seasons.^[1] After a particularly poor sales year, Industrial Automaton discontinued the R5 series in 23 BBY.^[7] The R5 was Industrial Automaton's first flop in the astromech droid market, serving as a wake-up call to the company and the droid industry as a whole.^[1] In an attempt to recoup some of its losses, Industrial Automaton reused the R5 body shell in its R4-series and R2-AG agromech droids.^[6]

During the Clone Wars, members of the R5-series were used by the Republic for a variety of roles, including use aboard starfighters like the ARC-170 and capital ships like the Acclamator-class assault ship.^[source?]

Some droids fell in to the hands of various pirate groups, such as the Ohnaka Gang, who fitted weapons such as blasters to their domes.^[source?]

By the time of the Galactic Civil War, R5 droids could be bought in bulk for a very low cost. The Alliance to Restore the Republic procured a large number of R5s to use as starfighter counterparts despite the fact that they could only hold a single set of hyperspace coordinates in their active memory. Alliance technicians embarked on a refit program that allowed them to modify their R5s with increased memory capacity that gave the droids the ability to hold six, seven, or even ten hyperspace coordinates. Despite this success, the R5s still had personality problems and a number of pilots disliked the "flowerpot" head as it offered a larger target profile for the enemy.^[1]

One R5 unit in particular, R5-D4, was almost sold to Luke Skywalker by Jawas on Tatooine, but was exchanged for R2-D2, following a catastrophic failure of its motivator.^[8]

Aboard Imperial warships, R5 units were used to monitor medical equipment such as life support capsules.^[source?]

Due to their design problems, a number of R5 units were part of the population of ownerless, unwanted, and otherwise abandoned droids inhabiting Kligson's Moon.^[source?]

Rogue Squadron commander Wedge Antilles was paired with an R5 unit, R5-D2, when the unit was reformed in the early years of the New Republic. Nicknamed "Mynock" due to its terrified screeching during battle, Antilles' eventually had the droid memory wiped and renamed to R5-G8.^[1]