The droids in Star Wars are inseparable from the lore and world building of that fictional future — or a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away — providing the movies with humour and heroics, while also examining the idea of sentience and the ethical ramifications of creating an artificial subclass. They even spawned a robotic pejorative — “Clankers” — that’s been trending on social media these days .

Now that future is here.

“It’s not fictional anymore,” said Raymond Chau, program manager of the Rogers UBC Collaborative Research and Innovation Partnership. “They are fun little machines.”

This week, three robotic ambassadors have been rolling around UBC Vancouver’s bookstore and campus during the carnivallike atmosphere of the first week, helping human students get ready for the new

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