Cargobot

Cargobots are a type of robot encountered in Appalachia in 2103.

Background
A cargobot is an automated, airborne cargo-delivery drone that transports government aid drops. They were developed by the United States Armed Forces in 2060 for reconnaissance and delivering supplies to hostile conditions. The National Catastrophe Relief Auxiliary set up an automated system using cargobots that would allow NCRA personnel to reliably distribute emergency relief supplies in the event of a disaster. By 2102, this system continues to function across Appalachia, and cargobots can be summoned by loading a US Government supply requisition holotape into a relay tower's emergency broadcast terminal.

After they have completed their distribution, cargobots head slightly northwest of Point Pleasant, exiting Appalachia over the Ohio River, where they hover in circuits.

Characteristics
Cargobots are large, hovering, multi-limbed robots whose main chassis are slightly larger in size than a sentry bot. They utilize four adjustable booster engines to navigate the air and maintain altitude. Cargobots have three smaller "grabber" arms mounted to their undercarriage that can be used to grasp payloads using five points of articulation. Each arm is covered with several protective plates and ends with a set of forklift-like prongs. The topmost part of the "head" contains the flight control system and has two eyes, each with 15-bladed iris diaphragms similar to that of a Mister Handy.

Gameplay attributes
Cargobots are completely unarmed. As a cargobot's primary function is ostensibly to deliver government aid drops, it will fly to a suitable drop location near the relay tower where it was summoned, release the government aid drop, and then depart the area.

Cargobots also play a vital role in the late-game activation of the nuclear missile silos hidden around Appalachia. Cargobots, when tracked during the Hide and Seek and Destroy repeatable quest, will spawn into the world transporting an airdrop that contains loot and a nuclear keycard. However, the cargobots can be shot down by anyone, including those who do not have the quest active. This nuclear keycard is necessary to attempt a launch at any of the three nuclear missile silos. To access this cargo, the player character must destroy the robot. When attacked, the bot will become "hostile" but unable to attack the player character.

However, the Strategic Air Command cargobots carrying the nuclear keycards will always be defended by up to three Strategic Air Command vertibots, who will shoot anyone that fired on the cargobot or themselves until the target is dead, or the vertibots are destroyed. The cargobot will remain in (relative) proximity of the player character and high up in the air. Once defeated, the airdrop that the cargobot drops will have a single nuclear keycard inside. This airdrop will remain where it landed for five minutes before it self-destructs, with an audio cue being triggered when the lock on the airdrop is successfully picked.

During the event quest "Collision Course" at the Morgantown Airport, several waves of Scorched will have to be dealt with before a cargobot arrives to drop off an airdrop for player characters. The loot inside is random, but multiple airdrops can be sometimes found together at the location due to some having not disappeared yet, allowing a player character to gather a nice collection of loot, both in junk for crafting as well as weapons.

Appearances
Cargobots appear only in Fallout 76.

Behind the scenes

 * Cargobots are internally referred to as "vertibots" in the game files. Similarly, concept art by Katya Gudkina shows an early version of the cargobot design labeled as "vertibot."