3B6-RA-7, also known as "Threebee," was a droid designed as a personal assistant. However, it also functioned as a spy, caretaker, and farmhand. This droid served masters as different as Moff Dunhausen and Sholh Dorr, a moisture farmer. 3B6-RA-7 began its service with the Imperial Security Bureau and was programmed to simultaneously function as a protocol droid and spy droid. This dual programming resulted in significant incompetence in its protocol duties. The Bureau, in an attempt to monitor the Moff, gave the droid to Dunhausen. However, Dunhausen quickly grew tired of 3B6-RA-7's inabilities. Persistent rumors suggested the RA-7 line was used for espionage, leading Dunhausen to seek a way to get rid of the droid.
On Tatooine, the Jawa Jek Nkik captured 3B6-RA-7. Nkik repeatedly tried to sell the droid to customers, but these attempts were unsuccessful. 3B6-RA-7 became a permanent fixture on Nebit's sandcrawler, where it would often insult and ridicule any new acquisitions the Jawas managed to capture. Eventually, the aging farmer Sholh Dorr purchased him at the yearly Droidfest. Over time, 3B6-RA-7 developed genuine affection for Dorr, but was sold again when Dorr decided to sell him at Eport. By this point, 3B6-RA-7 had become a collector's item, as the majority of droids of its type were destroyed at Yavin during the destruction of the Death Star.
The Imperial Security Bureau initially owned 3B6-RA-7, and like its RA-7 counterpart 5D6-RA-7, it was programmed to act as a spy. The droid's apparent incompetence and clumsiness served to conceal its true purpose. The droid's programming was deliberately overloaded by assigning it both spy and protocol functions. The Bureau presented 3B6-RA-7 to Moff Dunhausen as a "gift," allowing them to monitor the governor. While serving as Dunhausen's personal assistant, the droid's forgetfulness regarding important appointments and its inability to accurately record dictations frustrated the governor. Stories of the RA-7 model's shortcomings spread among Dunhausen's colleagues, along with rumors of their involvement in espionage.
Dunhausen, seeking to rid himself of the droid, took a "vacation" to Tatooine. He dispatched 3B6-RA-7 on errands to Mos Eisley without any protection or company. Within thirty minutes, Jek Nkik, a Jawa scavenger, attacked the droid. After being struck by a shot from Nkik's ion blaster, 3B6-RA-7 was stolen and taken to Nebit's sandcrawler. Realizing Dunhausen's intentions, 3B6-RA-7 planned to report the governor to the Bureau, but Nkik removed the droid's data transmitter before it could do so.
While held by the Jawa scavengers, 3B6-RA-7's black shell was stripped down to its metallic base to prevent overheating in Tatooine's twin suns. As time passed, the droid became embittered, verbally abusing new arrivals in the sandcrawler's hold. The Jawas frequently attempted to sell it, but its unpleasant demeanor cost them several potential sales. Eventually, the Jawas stopped displaying it, instead leaving it in the sandcrawler when visiting moisture farmers.
When Imperial stormtroopers attacked Nebit's sandcrawler and killed the Jawas, 3B6-RA-7 felt no regret. However, to his surprise, the troops were actually searching for R2-D2 and C-3PO, whom Nebit had recently acquired and sold. The droids possessed top-secret information about an Imperial installation, which had drawn the attention of the Imperial armed forces.
Once again abandoned, 3B6-RA-7 was acquired by another Jawa clan and sold at the annual Droidfest. Sholh Dorr, an elderly farmer, purchased the droid and assigned it the role of caregiver. Dorr had been injured in 22 BBY while attempting to rescue Shmi Skywalker Lars from a Tusken Raider clan, and therefore required assistance on his farm.
In time, 3B6-RA-7 grew genuinely fond of Dorr and began to regard the farm as its true home. It eagerly anticipated the moment its program priority cycle would allow it to forget its past and provide Dorr with years of devoted service. However, Dorr had different plans. He viewed 3B6-RA-7 as an investment—a wise decision given that, following the Battle of Yavin and the destruction of the Death Star, RA-7s became highly sought-after collector's items, as most of them had been aboard the battle station. Consequently, 3B6-RA-7 was sold at an auction on Eport for over a thousand times the price Dorr had initially paid.
Like other droids of its type, 3B6-RA-7 possessed fifth-degree primary programming, which limited its intelligence and ability to perform only basic tasks. Initially, due to its dual programming, 3B6-RA-7 was remarkably inept as a protocol droid, failing to complete even the simplest tasks for Moff Dunhausen. Despite this, it was aware enough to understand what was happening when Dunhausen abandoned it on Tatooine. Its abandonment, subsequent capture, and disfigurement by the Jawas led to a surly and unpleasant disposition, causing 3B6-RA-7 to frequently lash out verbally at newcomers to the sandcrawler's hold. Initially, the droid felt nothing toward sentients, showing little sympathy for its temporary Jawa owners when they were killed by Imperial forces. However, its experience working for Sholh Dorr changed 3B6-RA-7's attitude, and it began to develop a genuine sense of purpose and belonging.
3B6-RA-7, with its insectoid chromium appearance, was equipped with broadband photoreceptors, a magnetic sensor, a vocoder sounding box, and a communications antenna with a data transmitter. Additionally, it had an interface connection port and magnetic grip foot-plates. 3B6-RA-7 was originally designed to function as both a spy and a protocol droid, although its skills in the latter area suffered due to its multi-tasking. Later, it found more fulfilling work as a farm assistant and caregiver.
3B6-RA-7 made its debut in George Lucas' Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope as an unnamed droid in an early scene aboard the sandcrawler. The droid was later identified as an "RA-7" unit in the "A New Hope Limited" set of the Star Wars Customizable Card Game. Years later, Adrick Tolliver (writing under the name "TalonCard86") provided further identification as "3B6" and a backstory through the StarWars.com Hyperspace feature, "What's The Story?".