32 kg70.5 lb
R2-D2 weighs 32 kg, about 71 lb, according to the official reference book Star Wars Rebels: Head to Head (2014), and the older Legends books give the same number. That is the droid in the story. The unit Kenny Baker sat inside on set was heavier, at about 80 lb (36 kg).
| Typical fan-built full-size replicaAbout 150 lb, per Engadget; all-aluminium builds can approach 200 lb | 68 kg150 lb |
|---|---|
| Kenny Baker’s walking costume unit (1977)About 80 lb, per Wikipedia citing a 2016 source | 36 kg79.4 lb |
| R2-D2 in canon and LegendsStar Wars Rebels: Head to Head (2014); Star Wars: Head-to-Head Tag Teams (2011) | 32 kg70.5 lb |
The films never weigh R2-D2. The number comes from Scholastic’s Star Wars Rebels: Head to Head, a 2014 book of character match-ups by Lucasfilm’s Pablo Hidalgo, which Wookieepedia cites for the current canon. The Legends article (stories published before Disney reset the timeline in 2014) gives the same 32 kg, from Hidalgo’s earlier Star Wars: Head-to-Head Tag Teams (2011). Same author, same number, so unlike Darth Vader or Yoda, R2 has one weight in both continuities.
His height is less settled. StarWars.com’s Databank lists 1.09 m, DK’s The Rise of Skywalker: The Visual Dictionary (2019) says 1.08 m (3 ft 6 in), and the 1995 Legends book The Essential Guide to Characters said just 0.96 m. The same books give his partner C-3PO 1.77 m and 75 kg, more than twice R2’s weight, which makes C-3PO’s “overweight glob of grease” insult in A New Hope a little rich.
R2-D2 on screen was never one machine. For the 1977 film, John Stears’ effects team built several droids, most with aluminium shells made by Peteric Engineering, and one was a costume for Kenny Baker, a 1.12 m (3 ft 8 in) performer. According to Wikipedia, the version Baker could fit inside weighed about 80 lb (36 kg). He was strapped into it with a harness and rocked it, turned the head and worked the lights from inside.
Baker’s unit could barely move on its own, so radio-controlled droids handled the rolling and the third leg. The Empire Strikes Back rebuilt them in fibreglass, and The Phantom Menace used around 18 R2 units. For the sequel trilogy, two fan builders from the R2-D2 Builders Club, Oliver Steeples and Lee Towersey, made the new droids.
In June 2017, an R2-D2 assembled from parts used throughout the original trilogy sold at Profiles in History for $2.76 million, well above the auction house’s estimate of up to $2 million. It stood 43 in (1.09 m) tall. No weight was published for it.
Fans in the R2-D2 Builders Club make full-size, working droids, and they come out far heavier than the official 32 kg. Engadget put a typical one at about 150 lb (68 kg). A Make: guide by builder Paul Gentile says an all-aluminium droid can now come in under 200 lb (91 kg), down from over 300 lb in the club’s early days, while one made of styrene plastic can be well under 100 lb (45 kg).
The difference is mostly what is inside: batteries, drive motors, a frame strong enough to hold it all, and metal panels that a fictional droid’s 32 kg never had to account for.
StarWars.com lists him at 1.09 m (about 3 ft 7 in). The Rise of Skywalker: The Visual Dictionary says 1.08 m, and older Legends books said 0.96 m.
C-3PO, by a lot. Official books list him at 75 kg (165 lb) and 1.77 m tall, against R2-D2’s 32 kg (71 lb).
About 80 lb (36 kg), according to Wikipedia. It was heavy and cramped, which is one reason a small adult rather than a child was cast to work it.
A 43-inch R2-D2 built from parts used in the original trilogy sold for $2.76 million at Profiles in History in June 2017.
Not at 32 kg. Physicist Rhett Allain worked through his flight in Attack of the Clones and concluded that he would need to weigh only about 0.1 kg to take off like that.
Last checked October 2, 2026.
