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In Star Wars - Episode IV: A New Hope, Luke uses a training remote found onboard the Millennium Falcon as part of his lightsaber training. A picture on the Wookieepedia page for "Training Remotes" is captioned "Han Solo's training remote":

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"Han Solo's Training Remote"

The remote remained aboard the ship for decades afterwards, and was discovered much later by Finn in The Force Awakens, while he is rooting around in equipment boxes.

I don't understand why a non-Force-user would have one of these devices around - it seems to be designed for use by Jedi learning to deflect blasters, and appears to have very little usefulness to anyone else.

Why does Han Solo own a training remote?

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    Yeah! Why would Han need a remote?! – Lexible Jan 6 '16 at 3:22
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    How do we know it's his? Could have been Old Ben's, or just one of the pieces of cargo on the MF, or just came with the ship? – Möoz Jan 6 '16 at 3:27
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    Yeah, I always assumed Old Ben brought it along with him. – Lucien Stals Jan 6 '16 at 3:32
  • For the sake of reference, multiple sources now confirm that the remote was indeed the property of Han Solo, and was kept aboard the Falcon by Solo for training purposes. – Wad Cheber Jan 19 '16 at 7:19
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    @Oak - GET. OUT. – Wad Cheber Jan 25 '16 at 2:07
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Han's training remote is used for target practice and to allow him to practice his "quick-draw"

Luke stepped back to the center of the hold, activated his lightsaber, and returned his attention to the hovering remote. Ben had rightly assumed that Han kept a remote on board for quick-draw target practice, and had programmed the device to fire harmless sting bursts for Luke to deflect with his lightsaber. Luke kept his eyes on the remote and batted at two fired bursts as Han Solo entered the hold. - SW: A New Hope - Junior Novelisation

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Image from Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary

and from The Weapon of a Jedi: A Luke Skywalker Adventure

He realized his lightsaber was in his hand. And then he sensed something else. He looked up and saw three remotes hovering nearby—remotes like the one Han Solo had kept for blaster target practice aboard the Millennium Falcon.

Three? He couldn’t fend off three—he had enough trouble anticipating the actions of just one. But the Force was very strong there. He could feel it all around him, a living thing, like wind or rain.

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    It is also confirmed in Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens - The Weapon of a Jedi: A Luke Skywalker Adventure. Luke has a dream about himself using remotes, and he describes them as "like the one Han kept for blaster practice" or something to that effect. – Wad Cheber Jan 19 '16 at 6:12
  • "remotes like the one Han Solo had kept for blaster target practice aboard the Millennium Falcon." – Wad Cheber Jan 19 '16 at 6:16
  • @WadCheber - Good find. Nicely backs up the novelisation – Valorum Jan 19 '16 at 7:12
  • You just took my pseudo-answer, added a bunch of legitimate sources to it, and turned it into a solid answer instead of groundless speculation. ;) Well done! – user45623 Jan 19 '16 at 19:02
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    But if Han misses a practice shot, he just blew a hole in the wall of his ship... – Josh B. Jan 23 '18 at 2:03
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Wookiepedia captions are not vetted canon sources. The caption is probably a mistake. If it isn't, we can perhaps assume that Han used them for target or evasion practice. Even if you can't reflect a blaster bolt, being able to dodge it is a valuable skill, and being able to shoot a rapidly moving grapefruit will certainly be helpful when firing at human-sized targets.

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    "...Remotes like the one Han Solo had kept for blaster target practice aboard the Millennium Falcon." - Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens - The Weapon of a Jedi: A Luke Skywalker Adventure This is a canon book. – Wad Cheber Jan 19 '16 at 6:15
  • Rapidly moving grapefruits are indeed a real nuisance on board many interstellar vessels. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Feb 23 '16 at 17:45
  • @JanusBahsJacquet Hopefully you're just joking along with me, but the point is that if you can hit something the size of a grapefruit, you can hit a larger target. – user45623 Feb 24 '16 at 23:09
  • I was absolutely just joking along with you, and enjoying the mental image of a space ship filled with grapefruits zooming back and forth through the air. :-) – Janus Bahs Jacquet Feb 24 '16 at 23:47
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Given that Kylo (Ben) was a force-sensitive kid on his way to Luke's new Jedi Academy at some point, it makes sense that a Jedi training device would he in Ben's father's ship.

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    But 1. We don't know which came first - Ben's birth, or the Millennium Falcon disappearing. Maybe Ben didn't exist yet the last time Han saw the Falcon. 2. The training remote was on the Falcon before Han met the woman who would marry him and give birth to their son Ben (actually, before he even knew that she existed). 3. Luke took Ben away for training, so it doesn't seem like it was necessary to train aboard the Falcon. 4. If Ben was training with the remote, he should have brought it with him to wherever Luke took him. – Wad Cheber Jan 6 '16 at 5:41
  • @WadCheber Every point makes some assumptions. 1. Maybe, but maybe not. 2. How do we know this is the same training remote? The training remote in The Force Awakens might have been for Ben. 3. Ben may have received some training by Han/Leia before he was sent. 4. Luke may have had enough training remotes that Ben may not have needed to carry this one. (See also point 2). All in all, I find August's answer plausible. (This mostly doesn't answer about Episode 4, but is plausible for Episode 7.) – TOOGAM Jan 6 '16 at 13:01
  • @TOOGAM agreed. And to be fair, I misread the initial question to be asking about Episode 7 in the first place. I do feel like it makes sense for Han to have kept these around post-Luke. For Episode 4, I assume (not a great thing to do, but Episode 4 doesn't do much in terms of explaining this) that Obi-Wan brought it aboard to train Luke. I see that Richard has a more well-documented answer, though. – August Meyer Jan 6 '16 at 20:11

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