Description
Droid Background
SL-1NK is a droid in the SL (Sample Leaner) droid class. SL droids are commonly referred to as scanner droids. SL-1NK is just one of the SL droids that we know of. SL droids have an item put into one of their two compartments and the droid provides data about the item. The smaller compartment is on the top panel. It is used for analyzing smaller items such as small crystals, a bottled sample of Ipsium, or anything small enough to fit. The larger compartment is located on the bottom front side. It is used for analyzing big items such as fruit from a tree, mysterious crates, and anything else that can fit in the compartment. The data can be shown on the small screen located on the top panel or the main screen located on the arm. The arm pivots to a rest mode, a reading mode, and a "table" mode.
Depending on the droid, they can provide a wide range of information. Using their scanners some can report what material the item is made out of. Some SL droids can translate any text on an item and provide context on the language. Some can take a photo, provide background on the item, and more. Some have a mix of skills and can do it all! SL droids are also not large in size and height. This makes them easy to store on most ships or in places such as shops, and homes.
Unfortunately, the chances of seeing an SL droid like SL-1NK are low. While SL droids do a great job at analyzing and providing data, they are not used often. As their class name suggests, SL droids are learners. They start off knowing only basic information which is helpful for small tasks. The more they analyze and learn, the bigger their database becomes, and the more they can help with bigger tasks! However, a SL droid's database isn’t the only thing that needs work. They also require a lot of maintenance and upgrades to keep it running. All those factors contribute to researchers not using them because they think it’s not worth the time. Travelers, shop owners and such don't use SL droids because they see SL’s need for repairs as a burden.
Fortunately, there are a few people who use SL droids. There are travelers, amateur scientists, and others who love the idea of having a helpful droid that they can tinker with. They like to make additions and changes depending on the task at hand. Depending on where you are in the galaxy, you might run into an SL droid in a school. Due to their small size and their ability to be easily customized, SL droids are perfect for teaching students the basics of analyzing items.
While we haven't confirmed exactly how SL droids get their personality, we know that SL-1NK is an ecstatic bot. His owner added NK to his droid number to mean "Numerous Knowledge" because SL-1NK wants to know it all! There is no adventure too big or small for this bot! He loves exploring, seeing other droids, and, his favorite, scanning different items and learning about them. You can hear his little beeps and boops of joy whenever he finds a new item! He also loves to help teach at schools.
Creator’s note
As a huge fan of Star Wars, I was so happy when this contest opened up. I wanted to create something unique in looks and also in its uses. When trying to decide on the shape, I went to my FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) Team’s 2024 robot (which is named Slink) for inspiration! The pivoting arm on SL-1NK is based on the arm on my team’s robot. My team’s robot has an arm that moves up and down to score the game pieces. I thought that the concept of a pivoting mechanism on a droid would be really interesting, so I went with it!
In 2022, I helped my students on my FRC team build their first robot. No matter how many zip ties held it together, how out of date the drive train was, or how sketchy the chain system was, they were proud of their robot and they adored it. We see a similar type of compassion for robots in Star Wars. We see this with R2-D2 and Anakin in the prequels and in The Clone Wars, Chopper and Hera in Star Wars Rebels, BB-8 and Poe throughout the sequels and more. My FRC experience mixed with Star Wars media helped me create the background of SL droids. With droids so helpful, one would expect them to be everywhere. But giving them SL droids those flaws helped create a reason why we never saw them and it made the idea of someone having an SL droid special. Even though many people may see them as a waste of time, some people love their little SL droids and will spend their time fixing their droids up or updating them to make their little droids happy.
Robotics can also provide a wonderful learning experience for others. I’ve seen students on my FIRST team learn so much through robotics, which is why I gave SL droids an additional role in schools. Robotics and STEAM can help inspire new engineers and problem solvers that our galaxy needs.
I’m a big fan of all the droids in Star Wars from QT-KT in the Clone Wars to the COO-series Cooking Droid in the Book of Boba Fett. When designing SL-1NK, I took inspiration from my favorite droid, B2EMO from Andor. The blue lines were inspired by B2EMO's red lines. The sides are made up of different pieces of metal attached together. B2EMO had metal in between the red lines so I used it as an inspiration. The idea is someone had to make a bunch of repairs over the years. The front, back, and top back are one piece of metal so the droid's owner has easy access to inside the droid to make any repairs or upgrades.
Thank you for reading about SL-1NK!