RobCo Research Center

RobCo Research Center is a location in the Cranberry Bog region of Appalachia.

Background
The primary employer of Watoga's residents, RobCo Industries operated this facility as much to develop the technologies underpinning the city as to work on other joint research projects with Appalachian powerhouses like Hornwright Industrial and national conglomerates such as General Atomics International. The Voice of Watoga and MAIA AIs were developed at the facility, alongside military prototypes. It also developed further variants of the Mister Handy line, including torture robots ("improved interrogation" in company speak).

A large part of the facility was also dedicated to the investigation and manufacturing of robobrains. At some point, the Encephalon Extraction Program was created by Doctor Dias and approved by RobCo, even with the opposition of the ethics department. This project ensured that the entire research team of the facility would have their brains scooped and suspended in a biomedical solution that would keep their cognitive functions intact and ready to be used for several lifetimes. So many complaints were reported to management that the report database overloaded.

The company also decided to hold company tours for Pioneer Scouts and their parents, led by one particularly disgruntled researcher, Dr. Clara Song, who took advantage of the matter by showing them parts of the building not meant to be seen in an attempt to get her superior fired.

Layout
"Here we go. The skunk works. Failed prototypes. Designs gone wrong. We've died and gone to heaven."

- Sergeant Fred Radcliff upon entering the Research Wing

Along Route 65, near the northeastern border between The Mire and the Cranberry Bog, are a couple of RobCo signs and a guard station. From there, a road littered with delivery trucks and guarded by robots leads up to a parking lot. Past this parking lot is both the RobCo Research Center and a walkway that leads to a broken monorail. The area surrounding the research center is mostly filled with various junk items, with a random plan found in a tool case on the southern side of the property.

There are three entrances to the main facility, one on the southeastern side, another on the southwestern side, and an elevator entrance that leads down to the Robotics Technology Facility. The first room after entering the southwestern side is the reception area, which has a receptionist terminal that gives some introductory information about RobCo. Past the front desk and up some stairs are two doors and an elevator. One door leads to the research wing, while the other goes to facilities management, and the elevator goes to the basement. The two wings, however, are not separated and consist of three different floors.

The first floor is home to the robobrain R&D Department, where a power armor station is available; the Robobrain Assembly Department, which is where the engineering terminal is found; a storage area and a couple of bathrooms. The second floor is made of various offices, a lab, a kitchen and dining area, two exits, and the research labs. In the research labs, there are two power armor stations, a weapons workbench, and an elevator that leads to a third exit. The third floor consists entirely of offices, including HR, and the quality control office.

The basement, accessed via the elevator in the back of the foyer, contains the testing facilities for a custom variant of the flagship Mr. Handy, the Mr. Torturer. A chemistry station can also be found to the left of the elevator. It also has spawn points for a bobblehead and a magazine and holds the location's steamer trunk.

Notable loot

 * Holotapes and notes
 * Betsy Spinelli's holotape - Holotape, on a desk in the robobrain assembly room.
 * Enola Walker's story, part 2 - Holotape, in the gatehouse.
 * Mr. Torturers - Holotape, on a desk in the basement.
 * Tinkering - Holotape, in the robobrain research and development department.
 * Robot virus - Holotape, obtained from a terminal during the quest Mayor for a Day.
 * Note from management - Note, in Clara Song's office, on the desk.
 * Prepared transcript - Note, on a printer in the research labs, spawned during the quest Duty Calls.
 * Quickly scrawled note - Three notes in the robobrain assembly room, spawned during the quest Duty Calls.
 * Note 01 is found on the desk which also contains Betsy Spinelli's holotape.
 * Note 02 is found on the counter next to the brain cooker.
 * Note 03 is found on another desk in the corner of the room.


 * Collectibles
 * Three potential Vault-Tec bobbleheads:
 * On the ground floor of the research wing, at the south end of the locked laboratory, under the red wrist sill of the a mainframe computer.
 * On the western side of upper curved balcony chamber, in the office just left of the Protectron pod, in the bottom desk shelf under the terminal.
 * In the upper laboratory area, in the southern corner, to the right of the elevator, by the locked safe.
 * Three potential magazines:
 * In the basement, to the left of the elevator, on a desk.
 * In a blocked room on the first floor, accessed by jumping high inside the robobrain assembly room on the first floor through the ceiling. Or via falling down a hole on the second floor from a second-floor office. On top of a broken library terminal next to a Picklock level 3 safe (may clip through the terminal's screen).
 * In an office on the second floor, on a table next to a withered potted plant.


 * Other loot
 * Power armor - At one of the power armor stations inside the robotics technology facility.
 * Potential plan - In a large toolbox in the robobrain assembly room on the first floor.
 * Two fusion cores:
 * On a metal cart in the robobrain assembly room.
 * Outside, in a fusion generator northeast of the site.
 * Mini nuke - On the ground next to the first console to the left of the entry to the robotics technology facility.
 * Two hazmat suits:
 * In a box in-between the robobrain research and development and storage rooms.
 * In the robotics technology facility, on a shelf.


 * Robot models
 * Two Eyebot models - In offices on the second floor, one on a desk and one on a filing cabinet.
 * Mr. Handy model - Inside the HR office on the second floor, underneath a small table shelf.
 * Three robot parts models:
 * Inside a lab in the basement.
 * Within the women's restroom, inside a toilet.
 * Inside the robotics technology facility, near the power armor spawn.
 * Sentry bot model - In an office on the second floor.

Related quests

 * AWOL Armaments
 * Mayor for a Day
 * Extreme Measures
 * Possum Junior Roboticist Tour
 * Duty Calls

Appearances
RobCo Research Center appears only in Fallout 76.