Robot workbench

The robot workbench is a world object in the Fallout 4 add-on Automatron. It is used to modify robot companions by equipping them with various robot mods, including Codsworth and Ada. It can only be crafted once the Mechanical Menace quest has been completed.

The bench also appears in an unusable form in the Fallout 76 add-on Wild Appalachia, designated as the Custom Robotic Assembly Platform or CRAP. The workbench is a RobCo product.

Characteristics
The robot workbench is by far the largest crafting station in the game both in width and in height. Rooms in player-built houses are usually not high enough to accommodate the workbench, but placing it inside a building is ill-advised anyway because some automatrons (sentry bots in particular) are too large to navigate enclosed spaces, much less fit through human-sized doors. While this problem can be circumvented by ordering the automatron to follow the Sole Survivor as a companion and wait for it to teleport to its master's side when the distance grows too long, it is far more convenient to just build the workbench outside.

There is, however, one notable exception: The Red Rocket truck stop garage is spacious enough to build a robot workbench in, and its door can easily be passed by even the largest automatrons.

Construction
The robot workbench, unlike other workbenches, appears in the "Special" category of the workshop menu, and doesn't require Local Leader rank two to construct at a settlement. However, it does require the completion of the quest Mechanical Menace before it becomes available to contruct.

Automatron construction
The automatron produced is a basic protectron with no armor.

The new robot will be given a default name of the form "Automatron-XXX", with XXX being a randomly generated number, but they can be renamed like any weapon or piece of armor.

Core robot models and variants
Players can choose components from a total of ten different robot models and their Nuka-world variants:
 * Mister Handy
 * Protectron
 * Nukatron
 * Galactron
 * N.I.R.A.
 * Assaultron
 * Novatron
 * Robobrain
 * Sentry bot
 * Space sentry bot

Modification categories
Constructing an automatron encompasses choices in seven categories. An eighth category, "Special Mods", is only relevant for the Automatron questline and plays no role for the construction of generic robots.


 * Head (For all torsos but Mr. Handy and Nukatron)
 * Torso
 * Left arm
 * Right arm
 * Thruster arm (With Mr. Handy torso and thruster only)
 * Legs
 * Voice (Not available with Nukatron)
 * Paint (Not available with Nukatron)

Optimization
When building a robot the head and both arms are optional - an automatron can be finished without them, although in such a case it will usually be lacking means of inflicting damage or interacting with its surroundings, as demonstrated by Bosun aboard the USS Constitution.

Robot parts can be freely mixed with almost no restrictions, thus enabling the player to create highly unusual but very deadly combinations. As an example, a Mister Handy torso and thruster assembly including a Tesla field and three buzzsaw-equipped appendages, combined with sentry bot arms wielding Gatling lasers and decked out in voltaic armor plating, results in an automatron that can single-handedly massacre entire hostile strongholds at range without needing ammunition, will devastate almost anything foolish enough to enter melee range, can move at impressive speed, can carry more than most organic companions, and is small enough to accompany its master everywhere.

Bugs

 * When building a robot and scrolling down during part selection, the prior selection above your cursor may be selected instead, as stated at the top of the screen as well as the tooltip. (Ex: voltaic armor instead of hydraulic armor, flamer hand instead of protectron laser hand, Resistance Field instead of Regenerator Field) Moving the cursor up a selection and back will fix the current instance. Sometimes the above fix does not work. In that case, one must uninstall the Automatron DLC, make a new save, and reinstall the Automatron DLC. This will reset all progress in the Automatron quests and remove any previously acquired Automatron DLC content.
 * Building an automatron without hands (Ex: a Gatling laser in the hand slot is not a hand) will prevent them from hacking and lock picking.
 * Building an automatron and going up to the Mr. Handy thruster and then to different legs may cause the robot to float with the thruster, despite the fact that it doesn't have one.
 * Building a robot with an assaultron body and any other pair of legs may cause it to move at the speed of an assaultron instead of its original speed.