Richard, standing on a Japanese train and looking out the window, next to his R2-D2-like android — ‘Creating something perfect from scratch, gathering the component parts and assembling them into an actual being… Richard is R2’s mum’: Miranda Sawyer. Photograph: Chris Willson/Demotix

My droid: ‘I’m the type of person who shows that something can be done’

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Richard, 48, an engineer and teacher who lives in Japan, spent four years and £22,500 building a beeping, head-swivelling, dancing R2 unit called R2-J1. What does it say about him?

See more photos of Richard and R2-J1’s day out

What does this droid say about me?

“I guess you could say I’m a Star Wars fan. People said my project was impossible, but I’m the type of person who shows that something can be done.”

Me and my droid - in pictures

What the droid really says

Here are Richard and R2-J1 hanging out together, as per. Richard is strap-hanging, R2 isn’t; naughty R2 is taking up space for buggies and wheelchairs, though I’m sure he would move if those spaces were needed. R2-J1 has been well brought up.

Richard and he have a close relationship; they are at ease with one another. Though R2 gets all the attention – it must be like walking around with Justin Bieber – Richard is more than a minder. He’s the creator. He remembers when R2 was just an idea, a thought in Richard’s mind. He recalls bringing him into life, what he was like when he was just a bunch of misfiring electrics, before he was all grown up and travelling on a suburban train. Creating something perfect from scratch, gathering the component parts and assembling them into an actual being… Richard is R2’s mum.

Being R2’s mum means Richard is both proud and protective. You can see in his other photos how happy Richard is when people notice R2, but also his sideways glance when they want to get too close. In one picture he’s offering R2 a choice of fizzy drink. I imagine he guided R2 to the healthiest option.

It’s interesting that Richard made R2-J1 while living in Japan. Japan loves robots, especially cute ones, and Richard could have gained respect with any robotic creation. But Star Wars, for a 48-year-old American man, is about home, about being a kid exhilarated by the possibilities of space and the future. And now he lives in Japan, the spaciest, most futuristic place on earth. R2-J1 brings together a lot of elements for Richard: past, present, youth, middle age, home, abroad, robotics, real life, pet, child… He’s perfect. Also, R2-J1 is never going to go through those rebellious teenage years.

If you would like Miranda to cast an eye over your favourite possession, email a photograph to magazine@observer.co.uk

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