Droids are robotic beings usually having Artificial Intelligence, used for a variety of different jobs and suited for different environments. Most of the jobs the droids do are either simple and time consuming or too dangerous for humans or other sentient life, or certain fields that need a mastery and specialization of the topic at hand, liked Medic Droids and small Astromech’s.

Depending on the type of Droid, they were obedient, loyal, durable, usually were experts with mathematics and had excellent memory. These personality traits made them great for many jobs, though some weren’t independent and you had to watch over them to make sure they didn’t mess up.

Droid designers did face a small problem, the question of how far to take the droids intelligence. Make them too intelligent, and they become self aware, not intelligent enough and they don’t have a high degree of Artificial Intelligence.

There are 5 degrees of Droids.

1st Degree Droid: Droids capable of being independent and could think on their own. Usually used for Medics, and some advanced, expensive Assassin Droids. Droids that were made to torture people also fell under this category, and droids that were designed for someone that had a high degree of artifical intelligence did as well.

2nd Degree: Usually engineering or technical droids, this degree consisted of Astromech and utility droids. Pilot Droids, Scout Droids, and Probe droids fit under this category as well.

3rd Degree: Protocol Droids, policital, social, or scholarly droids fall in this Degree.
4th Degree: Security or Military Droids, the Trade Federation used many 4th Degree droids during the Clone Wars.

5th Degree: Simple labor droids, like Binary Load Lifters. Usually used for mining, cleaning, and other labor tasks.

As with different degrees, there are also different types. Usually model, personality, and job make up the type of droid it is. Some droids can’t fit under one type, because they do many different jobs, or they were custom built, like HRD’s (Human Replica Droids) Also, what droids did under different owners may change their type, but this was not always the case.

Assassin Droids: Used to kill, like their name suggests. Often employed when other means haven’t worked, also employed when a bounty hunter didn’t want to die, like a suicide mission. These droids could be programmed with advanced protocols and algorithm’s making them better then some human or other life forms at fighting. These types were most often to rebel.

Notable Assassin Droids: C-3PX, 4-LOM, Guri, IG-88, and HK-47

Astromech Droids: These droids were used to repair starships and other mechanical objects. They also could break into security, access computer panels, navigate a ship through hyperspace, store data, and check for damages. These droids were loaded with things that would be very useful to pilots, supplementing the ships own computer and helping the pilot with navigation and repair. Advanced models could actually fly their own starships for periods of time. The main drawback to these droids is the lack of a vocabulator unit, thus having to use a series of beeps to communicate.

Notable Astromechs: R2-D2, Fiver, R4-P17, R5-D4, T3-M4, Whistler, and Shaker.

Battle Droids: These were used as Soldiers during the Clone War for the CIS, they had many advantages over sentient life in battle. Droids could carry heavy weaponry, could carry shielding, move quickly without gaining fatigue, analyze targeting and determine the path of their shots (AKA increased accuracy), calculate chances of winning a battle instantly. Droids would follow orders without question, even if the Order was flawed, taking risks that would scare most humans and other species away, and the droids were expendable, the time it took to actually make a droid army was a shadow of the time it took to raise a Human army. These droids were usually made in bulk, and made on assembly lines, cutting the cost of them even further. The major drawback of Battle droids were, they only worked with a good strategy, they had horrible artificial intelligence.

Interrogation/Torture Droids: These droids were surprisingly meant to save humans. Save them from having to torture another human and possibly scarring themselves. It was practical in many ways, it increased the targets fear, increasing the possibility of a confession, Droids could tell if they were telling the truth, and usually had a complete set of pressure points and painful spots downloaded into it’s system. They also had truth serum on hand, and knew correct doses to get the information they wanted. Later on, a friendly captor would come by, offering sadness and promise to make the pain stop for the information they sought. The plan was genius.

Medical Droids: These droids were meant to heal, they were often better then the Human or Sentient counterpart because they would never forget their Medical Programming, therefore usually never prescribing something wrong. They could also store information on numerous patients, saving money on Computer Database Files. Med Droids wouldn’t let emotion get in the way of their tasks, but at the same time couldn’t sympathize with their patients at all, therefore sometimes making the patient feel worse.

Pilot Droids: Droids were used to fly starships and other crafts. These were the pilots for the CIS during the Clone Wars, they were also used to drive crafts on planets, like Shuttles and other things. Droids were great as pilots because they would know their ship, wouldn’t panic in the middle of a dog fight, could maintain close formations and execute attack plans perfectly, and would know the computer of the ship as well.

Protocol Droids: These droids were meant to aid with politics and other social affairs, as well as translate any language needed. They were programmed with enhanced aural sensors, so they could analyze and describe and use the information that was needed in certain situations. Because Sentient life interacted with these types of Droids, they were often given personalities so they weren’t as boring as some other droids.

Scout Droids: Droids were used in exploration or for hunting a target. They were cheap and expendable, like most droids. These droids were usually dropped in bulk, ranging any where from a hundred to a thousand, and would use do a survey of the area and report back on their findings.

Droids are seen as property, but the more advanced a droid you are, the more respect you would get by Sentients. Some think Droids are a legal way for slavery, but usually this argument is put down by stating that no droid is sentient. The Naboo think of Droids with a high enough Artificial Intelligence to be, in fact, citizens.