Droid

Droids, short for androids, were robots: mechanical beings, often possessing artificial intelligence. They were used in a variety of roles and environments, often those considered too menial or too dangerous for humans and other species. Droids were also used in fields that required extensive specialization and knowledge, such as medical droids and astromech droids.

Depending on the model and its corresponding purpose, droids were totally obedient, rugged, expendable, capable of vast memory recall, and mathematically precise. These characteristics made them well suited for many jobs, though their lack of independent thought limited their capability. This lack of autonomy was simultaneously a vast asset and a glaring weakness&mdash;an asset in terms of obedience and control but a massive drawback in terms of effectiveness. Designers faced a fundamental paradox&mdash;make the droids overly intelligent, and they might rebel; yet make the droids not intelligent enough and they would be ineffectual.

Customarily, droid names were an arrangement of numbers and letters.

Definition of "Droid"
The words Droid and Robot are generally taken to mean the same thing. However, the official definition of a droid is "a mechanical being with a self-aware consciousness, as distinguished from a computer by having a self-contained method of locomotion."