The Imperial Directorate Exchange and Commerce Center



R4 ASTROMECH DROID



R4 Astromech Droid – 25,000 ICs
The R4-series agromech droid was a highly successful attempt to capture a new market prospect—the Outer Rim urbanite who more likely have a supped-up landspeeder parked in their garage than an X-wing. Accordingly, the R4 was designed for life outside the pristine hangar bay. It was simpler, tougher, and cheaper than previous R-series models. The R4 had the same outward appearance of an R2 or R3 droid below the neck, but to save money on production, items such as the video display screen and miniature fire extinguisher were omitted. The holographic projector/recorder unit was retained, but relocated to the top of the head dome to allow for use of a cheaper, less miniaturized unit with a smaller rotational axis. The droid's Intellex VI computer was advanced, but geared toward common repulsorcraft designs and specs for commercially available space transports. The computer brain was designed with more space between the components, lowering production costs, but requiring a larger head dome, and likewise eliminated many of the function indicators and gadgetry found on other R-series head domes. The R4 was unsuited to the task of starfighter astromech; it could only hold the coordinates for a single hyperspace jump in its active memory, a one-way trip for any fighter jock.