The MarcDuino system is based on Arduino. It controls animatronics (panel movement, lights and sound) of the droid.
It was developed by Mowee/Curiousmarc.
Original code rights on the Marcduino V2 firmware belong to CuriousMarc & Neil Hutchinson and Marcduino V3 firmware rights belong to Neil Hutchison.
I have developed an alternative that is perhaps a little cheaper, simpler and more elegant: Benduino (available at shop.printed-droid.com)
This is a Marcduino v1.5 PCB:
(front/bottom/soldered)
The developers site can be found here:
https://www.curiousmarc.com/r2-d2/marcduino-system
The Marcduino v1 and v2.0 are outdated. You should go with the v1.5 (Marcduino compact). It runs the latest Firmware and is pretty small.
The main system uses 2 Marcduino boards. The Master and the Slave board. Hardware is the same, they differ by the flashed firmware.
The Master controls the Dome panels and Sound . The Slave controls the Holo Projectors and Lights
You can buy Marcduino Boards on the Astromech Forum or solder them by yourself.
The support thread on Astromech: https://astromech.net/forums/showthread.php?28414-Support-Thread-for-MarcDuino-v1-5-s
If you want to solder them by yourself, here’s the needed component list:
Software for the MarcDuino:
Firmware for MarcDuino:
https://www.curiousmarc.com/r2-d2/marcduino-system/marcduino-boards/firmware-upload
Just follow the instructions
To upload Marcduino Firmware follow this guide:
https://www.curiousmarc.com/r2-d2/marcduino-system/marcduino-boards/firmware-upload
During upload remove all connected Servos!
V2 (1.8) Firmware:
L: 0xff
H: 0xdf
E: 0x07
V3 Firmware:
L: 0xFF
H: 0xD7
E: 0xFC
Infos about Marcduino V3 Software:
https://astromech.net/forums/showthread.php?40790-MarcDuino-V3-Support-Thread