CD-2 Harvesters were a class of agrirobot engineered by the Corporate Sector Authority, the governing institution of the Corporate Sector. These weren't intelligent droids; instead, they navigated crop fields using pre-set pathways. They had the ability to execute a variety of agricultural tasks, such as planting seeds, gathering crops, and conditioning the soil.
Widely adopted throughout the Corporate Sector and employed by numerous other galactic groups, CD-2s were hailed as some of the finest agribots on the market. One CD-2 was commandeered by the smuggler Han Solo and his allies to facilitate their escape from the Security Police on the planet Orron III around 2 BBY. Solo's slicing droid Blue Max seized control of the agribot, utilizing it to transport the team before directing it to crash through a spaceport, resulting in its destruction.
CD-2 Harvesters were massive, automated agrirobots distinguished by their vibrant yellow coloring. These machines featured a substantial array of cyclonic durasteel harvesting blades, mounted on arms spanning twenty meter in width at the front of the droid. Immediately behind the blades was a sizable intake chute where the harvested material was gathered, purified, sorted, and then channeled through a discharge outlet into an internal dual-load carrier. Waste and other unwanted matter were expelled via a discharge chute at the rear of the vehicle, above which an external hydraulic storage container was positioned when not extended. In addition to their harvesting apparatus, CD-2s possessed three large hydraulic soil-tilling arms at their front, which, when elevated and not in operation, were situated above the harvesting blades. The front of the droid also featured a zone where supplementary nose attachments could be affixed to enable additional agricultural procedures.
The control hub of a CD-2, comprising various connections and elements, was located atop its chassis, which reached a height of twenty meters. This control center was shielded by a robust and resilient industrial cover, although a member of the Wookiee species could tear it off through sheer strength. CD-2s had rudimentary guidance systems and were relatively cumbersome and sluggish on their four tractor-treaded tires, with the front two being smaller. The droids included a speed regulator to limit their maximum velocity, but if bypassed, the vehicle could attain speeds of up to forty kilometers per hour. The harvesters followed predetermined routes but could also be controlled via a remote interface. The agrirobots incorporated a limited optical perception suite on the front of their chassis, capable only of monitoring the condition of grain directly ahead. This system struggled to detect obstructions like organic workers or respond effectively to abrupt changes, and despite the availability of remote shutdown in emergencies, accidents occasionally transpired. Various software programs could be installed on CD-2s to enable them to perform a broader range of agricultural tasks, allowing them to adapt to the changing seasons in which they operated.
Ladders were affixed to the sides of the droid, facilitating access from the ground up to the control center. Narrow walkways with handrails were also constructed across the droid to allow movement over it, and these included thick insulated strips large enough for a Human to stand entirely within. Generally uncomplicated machines, they were extremely difficult to damage with small arms fire, which could remove cutter blades and non-vital plating but to little effect. The droids could be destroyed by larger weaponry, however, such as cannonades. The machine was kept running by a power plant, which could, under heavy fire, explode with enough force to tear the entire machine in two.
CD-2s were engineered not merely to aid the agricultural sector but to independently execute the entire labor process, from sowing to harvesting. They were deployed to harvest the extensive agricultural fields of produce on planets such as Orron III. They would follow their pre-programmed route through the fields collecting the grain and requiring no organic crew to operate them on site. The harvester was also capable of soil preparation, crop planting and yield expansion, using its tilling arms. This could create optimal seedbed aeration, moisture saturation and allowed for improved root penetration. With different nose attachments the agrirobots could also distribute liquid fertiliser or granule herbicide pellets and act as a furrower. Many of the top one hundred most commonly used crops, including tallgrain and denta beans, were harvested by CD-2s. Some specialist crops, such as berries, could not be harvested by the CD-2, however. The droids were especially useful for struggling farmers on desolate worlds, as the droid could function in any terrain, and its tillers could break even the hardest soil.
The Corporate Sector Authority, the governing body of the Corporate Sector, manufactured the CD-2. Recognized as one of the premier agricultural droids available, these harvesters were priced at 45,000 credits. While these droids saw service on numerous planets within the Corporate Sector, thousands of units were also acquired and utilized by the Galactic Empire and the New Republic, in addition to various planetary confederations. The droids were vital to the success of agricultural worlds such as Taanab, Ukio and Salliche, which not be able to sustain their vast agricultural output without them. Due to their efficiency and importance, the droids continued to be used even after they became considered fairly primitive in technological standards.
On Orron III, a CD-2 was programmed to harvest vast fields of a hybrid grain developed by Arcon Multinode Agricorp. Around 2 BBY, while the droid was routinely harvesting a field, the smuggler Han Solo and a group of accomplices entered the area in a skimmer as they tried to evade the Security Police. After their vehicle was downed, one of the group, the Wookiee Chewbacca, boarded the harvester and placed the slicer droid Blue Max into the CD-2's control panel. The slicer then managed to take control of agricultural behemoth and used it to run down several of the Security Police officers pursuing Solo and the others.
However, intense fire directed at the droid compelled Blue Max to order it to flee, picking up the rest of the fleeing group as it did, apart from Chewbacca, who was captured by the Police. The harvester was then piloted through the electrified security fence of a nearby spaceport, where Solo and his allies abandoned it with orders to plow through the rest of the port. As its one-time crew fled to Solo's starship, the Millennium Falcon, the harvester dutifully carried out its orders to run through the port, being attacked by Security Police as it did so. The droid was partially disabled but made it halfway through the port before a cannonade shot caused its power plant to explode, tearing the CD-2 in half.
The CD-2 Harvester, initially referred to simply as "harvester," made its debut in the novel Han Solo at Stars' End, penned by Brian Daley and released in 1979. Archie Goodwin and Alfredo Alcala adapted the story into a newspaper comic strip published in 1980 which also included the harvester. The comic adaptation included several notable differences in the scene including the harvester, with Solo and his companions all mounting the droid together instead of just Chewbacca initially. In the comic it is the academic Rekkon, not Chewbacca, who opens the hatch and puts Blue Max in the control center. The comic also depicts the harvester as grey, not yellow, and with distinctly different harvesting blades. This article assumes the information from the original novel and not the adaptation is correct.
The agrirobot was first given its model designation of CD-2 in the 1993 West End Games sourcebook Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook, which was written by Michael Allen Horne and also provided role-playing stats for the droid. The droid then received an entry in De Agostini's The Official Star Wars Fact File series in the 31st issue. The magazine claimed the droids stood twenty meters tall as opposed to the fifteen-meter height given by the Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook. This article assumes the fact file, as the more recent source, is correct.