Drone Control Device

 is an item which is added to Fallout 3 in the Mothership Zeta add-on.

It can be looted from an alien in Mothership Zeta's Robot Assembly. It was used by an Alien in the Robot Assembly area to activate and control guardian and support drones.

Uses
With the drone control device, the player is able to activate drones (contained in drone pods) found anywhere in the Mothership. The player may have a maximum of one drone follower at a time: a support drone or a guardian drone.

The device will also deactivate any active hostile drones in the area once any nearby aliens are killed (thus leaving no preprogrammed allies for the drones to defend). They will not reactivate even if any aliens show up from another area, but they will not fight for the player either. However, leading the drones away from the aliens will not cause them to deactivate.

Bugs

 * If dropped, it can whirl furiously in a different direction or at you, causing minor environmental damage.
 * Several drones can be activated by activating the first drone, then activating as many other drones as you can before the first drone fully exits the pod.
 * If the lead alien holding the Drone Control device is killed with the A3-21 Plasma Rifle and turned into a pile of goo, the device may disappear and thus cannot be obtained.