The following is a list of characters that appear in the 2005 film Robots.

Rodney Copperbottom

Rodney

• Voiced by: Ewan McGregor

Rodney Copperbottom is the main protagonist.

Ever since he was a young "bot", Rodney dreamed of becoming an inventor and meeting his childhood hero Bigweld. When his father's boss becomes angered by one of the youth's inventions, Rodney decides to leave Rivet Town, to go to Robot City and sell his idea to Bigweld. He finds that Bigweld has been replaced by Ratchet, a smooth-talking but sinister robot. After being evicted from the boardroom, Rodney meets the Rusties, a group of "outmodes" (outdated bots with worn out or broken parts). The outmodes befriend Rodney after he is able to fix most of them. He extends this favor to all the broken or crumbling robots in the City.

Rodney and Fender eventually discover that Ratchet stopped the production of replacement parts, in order to force all robots to receive regular upgrades. Ratchet also forced Bigweld into hiding, to keep his plan a secret. Rodney and the other robots unite to defeat Ratchet, and the outmodes finally receive their much-needed replacement parts.

Fender

Fender

• Voiced by: Robin Williams

Fender is the co-star of the movie.

Fender first appears when he takes some pictures of Rodney Copperbottom's first moments in Robot City, whereupon he tries to scam Rodney by saying that he must buy the photo for $50. He later meets Rodney again in Robot City and the two become friends. Fender invites Rodney back to his home and introduces him to his friends, the Rusties. Throughout his role, Fender is whimsical, sometimes melodramatic, occasionally wry, slightly cynical, but partly self-aware and rather loyal character.

Fender has a "sister" named Piper Pinwheeler, with whom he has a sometimes one-sided sibling rivalry.

During a moment of carelessness, Fender is taken to the chop shop, where he loses his legs. He puts on a replacement, only to find out his new legs once belonged to a female robot. With no time to find another replacement, he uses the new legs to escape the chop shop. He later wears the replacement, as well as several other pieces, to assemble a battle garb for the film's climax.

Cappy

Cappy

• Voiced by: Halle Berry

Cappy is another main character.

Cappy is a young robot, living and working in Robot City as Bigweld Industries' only female co-executive. Unlike Ratchet and his sycophants, she sympathizes with the outmodes as their parts are cut off to make way for Ratchet's new plan. Upon meeting young Rodney, she quickly begins to develop a soft spot for him and tries to keep him and his friends out of trouble, especially from Ratchet. She becomes Rodney's ally and companion, serving to help him when he is in danger.

Bigweld

Bigweld and Rodney in a scene from Robots

• Voiced by: Mel Brooks

Bigweld is considered "the greatest robot in the world" and had owned a TV show in which robots could send him ideas for inventions that would make robots' lives better. Rodney loves this show and is inspired by it to make an invention of his own, which is called the Wonderbot. When Rodney gets old enough to travel all the way to Robot City to show Bigweld this Wonderbot, Ratchet is in Bigweld's place, while Bigweld has become disillusioned and has allowed Ratchet to control Bigweld Industries. During the interval between Ratchet's corporate takeover and Rodney's arrival, Bigweld remained hidden in his workshop arranging an increasing quantity of dominoes (his sometime metaphor for chain reactions) into elaborate configurations, which he would then knock or permit another to knock down, only to build another, more elaborate configuration of the used dominoes. After the climax, Bigweld provides Rodney's friend Diesel with a new voice box to replace his string of ineffective records, gives Rodney's decaying father sufficient spare parts by which to repair himself, and makes Rodney heir apparent to Bigweld Industries.

Bigweld has two main catchphrases heard in the movie:

• "See a need, fill a need."
• "You can shine no matter what you're made of!"

Bigweld's colors are silver, black, and gold. He has no legs, but resembles an enormous titanium sphere on which are added arms, a tuxedo-like cover, and a head.

Wonderbot

Rodney holds Wonderbot in a scene from Robots

Wonderbot was designed by Rodney to help complete the task of cleaning dishes for Rodney's father, Herb Copperbottom. However, the Wonderbot was frightened by Herb Copperbottom's boss, who, when dirtied as a result of being startled by the Wonderbot, expelled Rodney from his job as a server at the restaurant. Thereafter Rodney traveled to Robot City, where he intended to sell the Wonderbot to Bigweld. There, Wonderbot was discarded by Ratchet and later discovered by Piper Pinwheeler. He later became instrumental in several incidents, such as pointing out possible opportunities to meet the absent Bigweld and his duel with the evil Madame Gasket. In the film's final scene, he is shown throwing Bigweld Industries' obnoxious gatekeeper Tim out of the audience's field of vision.

Wonderbot possesses three long, wire-like limbs that he uses variously as hands or as means of creating pictures for visual communication.

Ratchet

Ratchet

• Voiced by: Greg Kinnear

Ratchet is the main villain. His full name (Phineas T. Ratchet) is mentioned once in the dialogue, when he takes Bigweld's place at an annual dance extravaganza.

After reducing Bigweld to a retired figurehead, Ratchet rises to head of Bigweld Industries. Using his new position, he and his conniving mother, Madame Gasket, hope to take over Robot City. Ratchet propagandizes the idea that outmodes are only useful as scrap metal and that they must have complete upgrades, not new parts. When Rodney tries to sell his Wonderbot to Bigweld Industries, Ratchet rejects him. Ratchet later plays the role of villain in most of the story, wherein he attempts several times to have Rodney or/and Bigweld destroyed and is shown to have a soft spot for Cappy. It is sequentially revealed that Ratchet plots to destroy all the outmodes at once by sending new, more vicious versions of the huge robot-catching machines called "Sweepers" into the city; however, he is foiled when Bigweld and Rodney knock all the new Sweepers down, immobilizing them. Ratchet is stripped of his own upgrades (except those covering his face) and left to hang beside his father, whom Madame Gasket had imprisoned.

Ratchet's color is silver, with a red, metallic "tie", until the loss of his upgrade body covering. The tie appears to be attached to his cover at the lower part of its length, rather than the higher.

Herb Copperbottom

• Voiced by: Stanley Tucci

Herb Copperbottom is Rodney's father and Lydia Copperbottom's husband.

Herb first appears at the beginning of the movie, wherein he announces enthusiastically that he is to be a father (this being the day of Rodney's creation). It is said that he had wanted to be a musician, which he does not become until the end of the film, wherein Rodney gives him a brazen wind instrument resembling a French horn. In the interim years, Herb was a dishwashing machine at a restaurant owned by a miserly robot called Mr. Gunk. Herb begins to disintegrate during Rodney's adulthood, ultimately to be repaired at the behest of Bigweld. His musical career begins with an off-key song that transmutes into an enjoyable dance number that combines, according to Fender, "jazz and funk". The resulting music is called "junk".

Herb's color is a sky blue; similar to Rodney's but lighter and differently distributed. He wears a white dishwashing machine on his chest until the final scenes, below which is a metal panel resembling an apron. He is optimistic, but less prone to distort truth than his wife.

Piper Pinwheeler

Piper

• Voiced by: Amanda Bynes

Piper Pinwheeler is Fender's "sister".

Piper is one of Fender's scavengers, and refers to Fender as her brother. She has a soft spot for Rodney and is consequently jealous of his sweetheart Cappy, though the two females are never seen to quarrel and are shown fighting as partners. Piper has a downright but prissy personality; the latter aspect occurring when she is annoyed by Fender, which is often. She attempts to aid Rodney in his rescue of Bigweld, but is held back by Fender, who wishes to keep her safe. She arrives at the movie's final fight scene with the city's population in tow, despite Fender's wishes, and leads the population against Madame Gasket's forces.

Piper's primary color is yellow. Two earlike devices on her head can extend on command to lengths greater than her own height, making them effective semi-projectile weapons.

Aunt Fanny

Aunt Fanny

• Voiced by: Jennifer Coolidge

Aunt Fanny is a motherly figure to the Rusties, whom she adopted as her housemates when they were homeless. Her name appears to be derived from her immense rump, which resembles a snail's shell and is used as a storage compartment. Aunt Fanny appears to have a sentimental crush on Bigweld, who also seems to have a crush on her, allegedly because both have prominent posteriors. In the UK, her name is changed to "Aunt Fan", because "Fanny" is slang for female genitals. In a contest among the Rusties wherein they made flatulence-like noises (she believed they actually passed wind, not just making the noises with their arms), she is shown winning outright, to the extent that a street lamp (which, like many of the machines in the film, is anthropomorphized) faints on the spot.

Tim

• Voiced by: Paul Giamatti

Tim is gatekeeper of Bigweld Industries. He resembles a miniature, cartoonish officer of some sort, clad in black. Tim is sarcastic and mean-spirited in life, in contrast to his comical benevolence in Bigweld's television programme, and may become servile when intimidated. When Rodney asks to meet Bigweld, Tim teases him by slamming the door before his face multiple times. Rodney later tricks Tim into closing the gates as Rodney escapes Ratchet's minions, locking them away from their quarry. Ultimately, Tim is (presumably) invited to Rivet Town for the protagonists' celebration of their victory, only to be thrown from a great height by the Wonderbot.

Tim has the colors of black and gold, except on his round face, which is a mixture of pink, white, and brown. He sometimes sounds like Mickey Mouse.

Crank Casey

• Voiced by: Drew Carey

Crank Casey (known to his friends as Crank) is a robot.

Staying true to his name, he is constantly complaining about various problems. He prefers the easy course of action, which to him involves sitting around waiting for the worst to happen, and complaining when it does.

Crank is one of the many robots Rodney meets on his journey to Robot City. He lives with Aunt Fanny, Fender, Piper, Lug, and Diesel. He helps find voice/sound chips for Diesel. In the final battle, wherein he temporarily gives up his pessimism in favor of determination against the common threat, he replaces his old wheels with monster truck wheels and obtains headlights. These, as well as his determination, have been discarded when he is seen in Rivet Town.

His color is yellow-orange.

Lug

• Voiced by: Harland Williams

Lug is a large robot whose main problem with scavenging for parts is that he can never find them in his size. Later in the movie, he is converted into a professional-wrestler robot, having ninja characteristics, in order to fight evil robots.

Lug is one of the many robots Rodney Copperbottom meets on his journey to Robot City. He takes care of Aunt Fanny, Fender, Piper, Crank, and Diesel. He helps find voice/sound chips for Diesel.

He is colored green.

Diesel

Diesel is a robot who needs voice/sound chips to speak or make noises from his mouth. His personality changes to suit the voice box he is currently using. Personalities he uses include those of a dog, a singer, and a cowboy.

He and his friends often look for voice boxes that he can use. A running gag throughout the movie involves him finding and trying to use different voice boxes, then acting out a pop culture reference for each one. For example, when hearing about Rodney's talent, he assumes a voice box and says "The Force is strong in this one" in Darth Vader's voice. In the end, Diesel receives a brand-new voice box from Bigweld, and starts singing like James Brown. His weapons of choice in the final battle are two flail/gun combinations. He also wears boots and a cowboy hat.

His color is blue.

Lydia Copperbottom

• Voiced by: Dianne Wiest

Lydia Copperbottom is the mother of Rodney Copperbottom and wife of Herb Copperbottom. She is a housewife and very kindhearted, but can be melodramatic and sometimes plays fast and loose with truth.

Her color is teal/aqua.

Mr. Gunk

• Voiced by: Dan Hedaya

Mr. Gunk is the boss of the diner where Herb Copperbottom works. He is strict, mean-spirited, and bossy. He is a cash register with a clock for a nose, hinting at miserliness and insistence on a tight schedule, and is colored forest green. He is ultimately forsaken as a boss by Herb, whom he always had addressed by his surname.

Loretta Geargrinder

• Voiced by: Natasha Lyonne

Loretta Geargrinder is Fender's love interest.

Loretta is a good-looking, pink female robot that mistakes Fender for "an eccentric billionaire" at the Bigweld Ball, and becomes his dance partner. After the party, they continue to court one another. She is shown working as a receptionist at Bigweld Industries and later as Fender's partner in the final scene's dance sequence.

Madame Gasket

• Voiced by: Jim Broadbent

The true mastermind behind Ratchet's plot to take over Robot City, Madame Gasket owns a subterranean chop shop for the outmodes collected by her son Ratchet. It is suggested that she is the controlling force that directs an otherwise weak and dim-witted Ratchet, whom she inspires with her power-hungry ideas and whom she uses as a cat's-paw. She is quite hideous, monstrous, and sadistic. Ultimately, she is outfought by the Wonderbot and thrown into her own furnace, where she explodes.

She is voiced by Jim Broadbent, which would partially explain why most of the robots believed her to be a man.

Her color is mostly grey-black, capped by a scarlet-orange headpiece resembling her furnace.