Ryan McAvoy said:

Why did the Jedi design a fighter that required an Astro-Droid but was so low to the ground that the Astro-Droid couldn't get out (Except by using it's rocket boosters)?.................

Some of the designs of the Prequel craft were pretty good,.....but the Droid slots don't make sense on any of them, the Naboo fighters show clearly that the hole for R2's head is on a tube which has no provision for R2's legs/shoulders.....the cross section explination demonstrates that his head extends away from his body (Inspector Gadget style)....but then the ship doesn't have enough depth for his body.....also the hole for his head doesn't allow for the holoprojectors

How the designer made compromises like this is beyond me.....and did it again for the ROTS Starfighter....there is no room for an R2 unit in there, his lower body & feet magically disappear into the dimension warping droid slot......balls up