In Star Wars, R2-D2’s character is mainly defined by his snarky personality. Whether he’s bickering with C-3PO or brazenly disobeying Luke’s orders, Artoo marches (or rolls around on his treads) to the beat of his own drum. Ben Burtt’s masterful sound design has given Artoo a cheeky edge with just beeps and whirs.
But the little astro droid is also known for the impressive arsenal of weapons and gadgets hiding in his tin can torso. From his buzzsaw to his scomp link to his lightsaber ejector, what is Artoo's best gadget?
Buzzsaw
One of the first gadgets that Artoo showed off was the buzzsaw he used in the middle act of Return of the Jedi. While the Rebels are wandering through the forests of Endor, Chewie spots an animal carcass hanging from a tree and races over to eat it. Han can see that it’s obviously a trap and tries to stop his Wookiee friend, but he’s too late.
Chewie grabs the carcass, triggers the trap, and the whole group ends up stuck in a net. Thankfully, one of Artoo’s old gadgets is still functioning. He unleashes a little buzzsaw from his chest and cuts everybody loose. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have a gadget to break their fall.
Fire Extinguisher
One of Artoo’s gadgets is a fire extinguisher. Whenever there’s a fire on a damaged ship or a building burning down, Artoo is there to put it out. This fire extinguisher comes in very handy in a galaxy where people shoot blistering beams of light at each other all the time.
In addition to spraying out fire-extinguishing foam, Artoo can also drop an oil slick, as seen in Revenge of the Sith when he used oil to make the super battle droids apprehending him slip over.
Scomp Link
In the Star Wars universe, a scomp link is a little accessory that allows astromech droids and BD units to hack into computers via nearby sockets. R2-D2 uses this gadget more than most of his others. For example, when Leia, Chewie, Lando, and the droids are desperately trying to escape from Cloud City, Artoo uses his scomp link to open all the locked doors that stand in their way.
In the tensest set piece in the original 1977 movie, Artoo uses his scomp link to shut down the trash compactor. The scomp link is very useful in the Lego Star Wars games, in which it can be used to open any door with a picture of Artoo on the console.
Lightsaber Ejector
After all the Rebels’ attempts to rescue Han from Jabba’s palace fail in the opening act of Return of the Jedi, they’re all flown out to the middle of the Tatooine desert to be sacrificed to the Sarlacc Pit for the Hutt’s amusement. It’s clear that Luke has a plan up his sleeve, but it’s not clear what it is until he nods to R2-D2 up on Jabba’s barge.
Artoo reveals that he has a little internal compartment where he’s holding Luke’s lightsaber. And not only that, the compartment is fitted with a lightsaber ejector. Artoo shoots Luke’s weapon out at him as he’s being made to walk the plank on Jabba’s skiff, allowing him to turn the tables on the bad guys.
Holoprojector
The most crucial Artoo gadget featured in the original 1977 Star Wars movie is his holoprojector. Luke Skywalker’s hero’s journey begins when his uncle buys Artoo and he uncovers a message on his hard drive in which Leia Organa says, “Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope.” After a little programming work, Luke manages to uncover the full message and gets it to Kenobi, who invites him to come along for the ride.
If Artoo wasn’t fitted with a holoprojector — and not only that; one that can record messages as well as playing them back — then Leia wouldn’t have been able to reach out to Obi-Wan, so the Empire might’ve won and Luke might’ve never become a Jedi.
Electro-Shock Prod
One of Artoo’s only defensive tools is an electro-shock prod. If he’s in danger, Artoo can stick a little electric rod out of his torso to shock his attackers.
In the Lego Star Wars games, this is the only way that Artoo can hold his own in a fight. Whenever an assailant comes after him in the Mos Eisley Cantina hub or in one of the levels, all he can do is stun them with his electro-shock prod. The damage only lasts for a second, so the best bet if another character challenges Artoo to a fight is to just turn around and flee.
Rocket Booster
In Attack of the Clones, when C-3PO accidentally gets himself appended to two half-constructed battle droids, R2-D2 uses a rocket booster to fly across the factory floor and save him.
While this was undeniably cool, it did leave Lucasfilm with the burden of explaining why he never used his rocket booster in the original trilogy, despite the many occasions it would’ve been useful. In the canon, it’s been explained that Artoo’s rocket booster (and most of his other gadgets) had stopped working by then and the warranty had expired.