The TT-44 was equipped with a wide, repulsorlift-engine base which doubled as a data terminal allowing users to make data requests from any direction, either by typing their searches directly through multiple keyboards or verbally interacting with the droid. The base supported the main body of the droid which consisted of a switchboard assembly, which used a TelBrinTel proprietary interface more specialized than regular dataports, and a trio of data wheels with extendable probes. These wheels spun from socket to socket, extending and retracting their probes in a blur of motion making connections with the switchboard and retrieving requested information from the city's or corporation's central mainframe via twin ceiling-support connection cables. Final results could be downloaded onto a datapad, printed on flimsiplast or delivered through the droid's vocabulator.
TT-40 droids were prohibitively expensive early in their production, but were often subsidized by governmental programs or large businesses to further education. A fee was sometimes charged in cases of particularly lengthy search sessions or when accessing data from restricted archives. While the droids had personalities, they had no interest in anything other than information retrieval and were known only by their official title, such as "Recorder of Assignments and Transactions for the Supervisor's Committee." They could be brusque to those who weren't sufficiently bureaucratic in their requests and no attempt was made by TelBrinTel to improve on their officious nature.
During the Black Fleet Crisis, Luke Skywalker and his companion Akanah encountered a TT-40 in the city of Griann on Teyr. Using the droid to access the Teyr Central Directories, they were able to narrow their search for the Fallannassi down to the city of Sodonna.