A Seeker AS-M12 message droid
The Seeker AS-M12 was spherical in shape and was smaller than a fully grown Human. It was also equipped with repulsorlifts for hovering over the ground. Such droids were programmed to locate their targets and deliver their messages quickly. Typically they were transported across hyperspace via hyperdrive pods, a droid-controlled hyperdrive-equipped pod, which only made one-way trips.
It also had sensitive visual and audio sensors and had a retractable manipulator arm used to open doors and operate turbolifts. It could also plug into public directories with a computer input jack.
An AS-M12 with its grasper arm extended.
When its target has been located, the individual is required to provide a verbal passcode before the droid can replay its message. Visual data is projected by a holoprojector while audio data is filtered by its vocabulator. Such droids were costly and each unit cost 24,000 credits.
Occasionally such droids were used as covert assassins, carrying explosives inside their holds. This attempt at ingenuity was known to backfire on the attacker, due to the fact that the droid kept a hard-wired log of from where it was deployed—enabling the droid to find its way back home.
- Shadows of the Empire Sourcebook
- Cynabar's Fantastic Technology: Droids
- The Essential Guide to Droids
- Arms & Equipment Guide
- The Official Star Wars Fact File61