In the GFFA, droids performed many functions, from nannies to bounty hunters; they were a part of everyday life. We're all familiar with the droids showcased in the SW movies, but there were other types of droids that performed invaluable services for the residents of the GFFA and
deserve recognition.

Nanny droids: Nanny droids were built and programmed for the care of children. These droids had synthflesh and internal reservoirs that could hold milk. Nanny droids could even be equipped with weapons to defend the children in their care.

Medical droids (meddroids): Meddroids could be programmed with massive amounts of information, none of which would be forgotten. Meddroids had emotional detachment, which could be an advantage because droids did not let emotions interfere with their tasks. Meddroids droids could also operate on patients, using built-in tool extensions and surgical implements which were often modular, allowing rapid change from one medical specialization to another.

Pilot droids: Pilot droids could be programmed with detailed schematics of a ship; they would not panic when under enemy fire, they could maintain tight formations and execute precision attack plans, and, because of their close integration with the ship's computers, they could monitor and repair damage to the ship far more effectively than a human. Because of their expendability, these droids did not require escape pods or other life support systems, saving cost and complexity on the ships they flew.

Now as I mentioned above, this blog is mainly about droids that we didn't learn much about in the movies. But I can't write a blog about droids and not include a tribute to two of our special buddies.

Arguably the hero of SW, R2D2 was a jack-of-all-trades and stood out among the other astromech droids. R2 went above and beyond other droids in his class; he got our heroes out of technical and life-threatening jams, "introduced" Luke to his sister, stored and relayed extremely important information, and even kept his neurotic friend 3PO in line.

R2's counterpart, C-3PO, one of many protocol droids, was a huge help to our friends in the saga. One of the more nervous droids, he was built by "little Ani" to assist his single mom Shmi Skywalker. And if it weren't for 3P0 vouching for R2 over the other droids, Luke and Owen may have overlooked R2 when "Red's" motivator went kaput in ANH. 3PO was also one of the droids that faithfully provided top-notch service for Padme, Anakin, the Lars moisture farm and the even the Rebellion.

As technology speeds ahead, droids are not as much of a fantasy for us in the real world as they used to be. So kudos to the droids of the GFFA...let's hear it for the droids!