DroidCon 2026 | Holiday Inn Indianapolis Airport, an IHG Hotel
Cultural Experiences
A four-day celebration of droid builders, their creations, and their endless tinkering. By the Builders, for the Builders!
DroidCon 2026 is the ultimate gathering by the Builders, for the Builders - four days of hands-on collaboration, shared knowledge, and celebration of droid-making culture. Whether you're a veteran fabricator or fresh off your first restraining bolt, you’ll find inspiration, community, and just enough chaos to make it interesting.
This year, something strange pulses beneath the surface. A dormant signal - Project ST-321 - has reawakened from the ruins of Colla IV.
No official records exist.
Only fragments.
Whispers.
A corrupted protocol believed lost during the Separatist collapse now echoes again through shadow frequencies. And it’s building something.
🔧 Hands-On Learning: The Hakko Soldering Lounge
Slide on your macrobinoculars and steady that servo hand - your first stop is the Hakko Soldering Lounge, scaled down this year to make space for the unfolding anomaly known as Project ST-321. But rest assured, our loyal sponsor Hakko still provides everything you need to hone your soldering skills.
Drop in anytime to build mini kits ranging from beginner circuits to Star Wars-inspired oddities. Bring your own project, or grab a station and get to work - our volunteer techs are ready to help, no matter your skill level. Kits are free while supplies last, but credits tossed in the tip bucket help offset costs (not required, but appreciated like coaxium on a cold night).
🌒 Project ST-321: The Mystery Build Challenge
Something ancient has begun to stir. No source. No sender. Just a scrambled signal - faint, rhythmic, looping in frequencies long abandoned by the civilized sectors. Engineers call it static. Archivists whisper another name:
Project ST-321
.
Each night, ten brave teams will attempt to decode its call by building… something. A device. A hologram. A transmission node? The schematics are sealed until the challenge begins. You’ll be handed a case - weathered, military-grade. Inside: holo-emitter, fragments of forgotten tech, and components that defy logical cataloging. What you build… may not be entirely yours.
Teams must self-organize (minimum of five beings), operate under nocturnal conditions, and complete their build before judgment at dawn on Sunday. The winner? Chosen by the community. The prize? Eternal glory and perhaps… revelation.
⚠️ And one final note: playback of the final transmission is at your own risk. Some echoes are best left archived.
“A signal once buried has begun to pulse again. Build wisely.”
🪑 Reserved Table Space: Claim Your Outpost
DroidCon’s popularity has grown faster than a Tibanna gas leak in a rusted compressor. Last year’s bazaar of brilliance left many builders elbow-to-elbow, vying for precious real estate to stage their masterpieces. This cycle, we bring order to the chaos.
All table space is now reserved in advance - no more staking claims with stray hydrospanners and flight jackets.
For those choosing the Table Add-On, you’ll receive a 24” x 72” staging platform and two seats - enough room to display your prized astromech, line up parts for a mid-session rebuild, or negotiate trade deals with a Jawa over a cup of Caf. Your area is yours alone. All personal gear must remain within its boundaries (yes, even your rolling parts bin with the LED underglow).
To maintain safe walkways and ensure full ADA accessibility,
droid displays will be arrayed with precision along the perimeter walls
, forming a gallery of mechanized splendor that winds through the ballroom like a procession of logic and light.
If you’re planning to showcase, demo, or vend:
reserve early, post haste.
There are only so many tables, and the Outer Rim waits for no one.
🎟 Merchandise & Swag – Stitch. Coin. Legend.
Included with every ticket is your standard-issue insignia: the
DroidCon 2026 embroidered patch
, a 3.5" badge of honor whispered to be modeled after markings found on an old outer-rim signal buoy near the Endor Gate. Whether sewn to your jacket, your satchel, or the shoulder strap of a Corellian courier bag - you’ll wear it, and others will nod.
But for those with a taste for metal...
Behold the
DroidCon 2026 Challenge Coin
, a 1.75" disc of mystery, rumored (but never confirmed) to be cast from salvaged droid casings excavated beneath the sands of Pasaana. Hold it in your hand and you’ll understand - this is no mere souvenir. It’s a mark. A token. A promise kept.
Official
DroidCon 2026 shirts
will be available through an offworld vendor known only as 'The Store'. Supplies fluctuate. Patience does not.
🔥 DroidCon After Hours – Tales by Firelight
When the ballroom lights dim and the soldering irons cool, the real stories begin. Out on the patio - beneath the twin sodium lamps that someone insists resemble the moons of Colla IV - builders gather by the firepit to share laughs, commiserate over burned-out regulators, and exchange whispered tales of gearboxes that moved without motors.
This isn't an official event. There are no badges scanned. No forms filled. Just weathered camp chairs, a few tables, and the universal clink of glasses raised in solidarity.
The ballroom doors stay open into the night for anyone still tinkering, testing, or teaching. But for many, this uncharted social quadrant becomes the soul of DroidCon - equal parts cantina and confessional. You’re just as likely to learn a new wiring trick as you are to hear how someone's GNK droid once caught fire and became a local legend.
📲 Join the Conversation – Signals Travel Fast
Whether you’re broadcasting your build in progress, decoding ST-321’s transmissions, or sharing that one solder burn you’re proud of, tag your updates with
#DroidCon26
. Our signal reaches across sectors, and fellow builders are always listening. You never know who might respond. (Probably not ST-321... but we make no promises.)
This is more than an event.
It’s a pilgrimage for those who build.
A gathering of creators, mechanics, misfits, and makers - each drawn by a shared obsession: to bring droids to life.
Whatever brought you here, whatever project you carry in your kit,
DroidCon 2026
is your signal fire in the dark. A celebration of ingenuity. A challenge to the routine. And maybe - just maybe - a chance to hear the echo of something greater... something buried, now awakening.
Claim your place. Complete the transmission. Join us.
Information Source: DroidBuilder's Inc. | eventbrite
