Roberto, the psychotic stabbin’ robot was an amusing character in Futurama. However, I’m rather curious what he was originally built to do. Many of the other robots in the series have wacky personalies and yet retain some level of functionality- Calculon the Acting robot, Crushinator the moonfarmer’s sexy robot daughter (I use the term ‘sexy’ very loosely here ) the Robot priest, the Robot devil, Hedonism bot, etc etc.
So what was Roberto designed to do? or am I looking at this the wrong way- that in a world of werecars and heads in jars it is entirely logical that people would build a robot exclusively designed to be paranoid, stab or threaten to stab others, repeatedly get sent to jail only to be released and rob 4 banks in one night.
He got the upgrade to make him more compatible with the 1X robots, so I think that means he’s supposed to have a real job. The robots are like humans, sometimes things go wrong and they get damaged.
Don’t we first meet Roberto in the robot loony-bin (where fry shares his cell)? This suggests to me that he is a general purpose robot who’s gone wrong/insane. His name suggests an unspecialised robot (unlike say, Clamps), so that unlike Clamps he has to carry a knife rather than have his weapon of choice (for Clamps that would be his clamps) built in.
There definitely are psychotic robots (possibly all of them, they were programmed by Mom)
Remember, Roberto has a purpose besides stabbing – he also practices his stabbing.
On the commentaries for the DVD’s (they’re great, BTW), the writers often wonder about this same point. Why would you build a robot mafia or a hedonism bot? No reason, but they’re good for a gag.
[ol]
[li]the designers at Mom’s Friendly Robot Company sometimes play around and get into weird bets and dares, along the lines of “Oh yeah? Well, I bet you couldn’t design a robot that only plays dodgeball!” Then they send the robots out into the world before management discovers them.[/li][li]Mod chips.[/li][li]Robot operating system viruses.[/li][/ol]
I think the Robot Mafia and Roberto are doing exactly what they were designed to do. In a society where law enforcement and a justice system rise to the level of industry, the criminal serves a critical purpose in maintaining the economy and the status quo of society in general. Just like the Robot Cop is fulfilling his role, the robot criminals are fulfilling theirs.
I’d guess that he’s a Killbot—either a reservist, or a “sleeper,” explaining why he doesn’t have any integral weapons. (Either they’d only be installed in time of war, or he needs to blend in with the “normal” robot population.)
The fact that he’s constantly trying to kill people anyway demonstrates his insanity—because, of course, Killbots shut down after reaching a pre-set kill limit. In effect, this poor, twisted bot is trying to commit a roundabout suicide by doing the only thing he knows how to do. (Kinda like Rambo in First Blood.)
) the Robot priest, the Robot devil, Hedonism bot, etc etc.
