Sandcrawlers, initially dubbed digger crawlers, were colossal mobile strongholds employed by the Jawas as both a means of transportation and a place to live within the deserts found on Tatooine and Arvala-7. These vehicles had a magnetic suction device that allowed them to pull droids and discarded materials into their storage areas. They also had areas for processing scrap, cargo storage, and living spaces for both crew and passengers. An entire Jawa clan could comfortably reside within their confines.
The Corellia Mining Corporation constructed sandcrawlers as enormous, mobile facilities for mining and smelting operations. These vehicles resembled tracked boxes, rising approximately 20 meters above the terrain. The cockpit was located in their triangular front section. Corellian Mining envisioned these vehicles as independently operating mining units suitable for harsh frontier worlds. Their basic, yet dependable, nuclear fusion steam reactors, along with their multiple tracks, ensured minimal breakdowns. Furthermore, their substantial weight and armor provided resilience against the most severe environmental conditions.
The durability and adaptability of sandcrawlers allowed them to be found throughout the galaxy, serving purposes beyond their original design. On the desert planet of Tatooine, numerous sandcrawlers were abandoned by various mining companies over time. These were then salvaged and repurposed by wandering Jawa groups. These Jawas traversed Tatooine's wastelands in search of scrap, which they would sell or trade with moisture farmers and nomads. Sandcrawlers provided ample cargo space, scrap processing capabilities, and living quarters for entire Jawa families.
For the Jawa people, sandcrawlers served a dual purpose: transportation and protection from the severe desert climate. They were often integral to scavenging operations and featured expansive cargo bays capable of accommodating up to 1,500 droids at once. The magnetic suction tubes enabled the Jawas to rapidly collect droids and scrap into the cargo holds. Inside, the Jawas typically utilized the reactor to melt down both scrap metal and droids.
Another sandcrawler variation, known as the DN-25 treadable, was deployed on Pasaana for traversing the planet's diverse desert landscapes. The native Aki-Aki designed these Treadables using crawlers that were left behind by offworld visitors who had come to participate in the Festival of the Ancestors.
Sandcrawlers were widely used during a mining surge on Tatooine, well before the Clone Wars. However, the discovery of the most valuable minerals on the surface soon rendered sandcrawlers obsolete. Consequently, they were abandoned and eventually adopted by the Jawas as mobile homes.
Sandcrawlers remained in service on Tatooine throughout the Clone Wars and the Galactic Civil War. Shortly before the First Battle of Geonosis, Anakin Skywalker, a Jedi Padawan, encountered a sandcrawler convoy while searching for the Tusken Raiders responsible for kidnapping his mother. The Jawas operating the sandcrawlers provided him with directions to the Tusken Raider camp.
Twenty-two years later, in the time leading up to the Battle of Yavin, C-3PO, a protocol droid, and R2-D2, an astromech droid, were forced to flee a battle between the Rebel Alliance and the Galactic Empire above Tatooine. After their escape pod crash-landed in the desert, the droids separated, only to be captured by Jawas. They were taken aboard a sandcrawler, where the Jawas prepared them for sale at the Lars moisture farm. Owen Lars and his nephew, Luke Skywalker, initially intended to purchase Threepio and R5-D4, but R5 intentionally damaged his motivator, changing their minds. Ultimately, Lars and Skywalker bought Artoo and Threepio.
The droids they acquired possessed stolen plans for the Death Star, the Empire's mobile deep-space battle station. The following day, the Empire tracked the droids back to the Jawas. After discovering that the Lars family had purchased the droids, Imperial forces attacked, killing the Jawas and damaging the sandcrawler to create the illusion of a Tusken Raider attack. Skywalker, the droids, and Obi-Wan Kenobi, a Jedi Master, later discovered the scene of the massacre and cremated the Jawa remains.
After the Battle of the Great Pit of Carkoon, a group of Jawas found a suit of corroded Mandalorian armor within the desert. Adwin Charu, a gangster, went to the Jawas' sandcrawler in an attempt to reclaim it. However, Cobb Vanth, a self-proclaimed lawman, confronted and defeated him in combat.
In 9 ABY, a group of Jawas utilized a sandcrawler on Arvala-7 to transport scavenged components from the Razor Crest, the spacecraft of Din Djarin, a Mandalorian bounty hunter. The Jawas defended against the bounty hunter's attempts to climb the crawler and recover the parts. Later, the Mandalorian and Kuiil, an Ugnaught, approached them to negotiate for the parts. After reaching an agreement, they were transported to a mudhorn's nest where the bounty hunter retrieved its egg.
Sandcrawlers initially appeared in Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, released in 1977, which served as the inaugural film of the Star Wars original trilogy.
Colin Cantwell created the original design, drawing inspiration from a rover designed by NASA. Ralph McQuarrie later refined Cantwell's initial concept. The headquarters of Lucasfilm in Singapore was built to resemble McQuarrie's design and is known as "The Sandcrawler."