• Jane Kaczmarek, Swoosie Kurtz, Donna Murphy, Joan Cusack, Adrienne Barbeau, Amy Adam's, Jennifer Saunders, Rosie O Donell, Idina Menzel, and Catherine O Hara we're considered to voice Madame Gasket before Jim Broadbent was cast.

 

• A special rendering tool was created specifically to randomly place the pips on every domino in Bigweld's workshop.

 

• In the chase sequence, while Big Weld is rebooting, he briefly sings the song "Daisy Bell," also known as "A Bicycle Built For Two". This was the first song ever voiced by a computer, when in 1961, IBM programmed their 704 computer to sing it, to demonstrate their voice synthesis system. This is also the song sung in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) by the Hal-9000 computer.

 

• Chris Wedge reports on the DVD commentary that Robin Williams performed the scene with Fender and Rodney attempting to get past Tim eight times in eight different accents, including as a Polish valet.

• Rodney Copperbottom's design is inspired by an old Evinrude outboard engine in Chris Wedge's garage, as well as on a Volkswagen van. An early version of Rodney makes a cameo, as the green robot with the jet pack, waiting in line during Bigweld's television show.

  An internet search will reveal dozens of outboard motors from the 1940-50s, all of which serve as beautiful examples of the "mid-century modern" style of designs. Many of the elements of these motors pop up in this film in various guises.

• The filmmakers wanted the music score to sound like it was recorded by the "Robot Philharmonic". To that effect, they hired performance artists Blue Man Group, known for performing on musical instruments made from industrial piping and other found objects, to do special percussion effects.

 

• On the "Map of the Stars' Homes" that Fender tries to sell Rodney, the names of the stars are: Jeremy Irons, Orson Wheels (Orson Welles), Axle Rose (Axl Rose), Britney Gears (Britney Spears), Farrah Faucet (Farrah Fawcett), and M.C. Hammer.

 

• In Australia, a contest was held to Australian children to win a voice-over role in the movie. The lucky winners were chosen to voice the watches that one of the robots was selling in the train station.

 

• A robotic version of Sid the Sloth from Ice Age (2002) appears when Rodney first enters Robot City, when he approaches the street performer.

 

• Rivet Town was designed after Watertown, New York, because director Chris Wedge grew up there.

 

• The original concept for the film was a 1930s-style screwball comedy with musical numbers.

 

• Robin Williams' first voice acting role since Aladdin and the King of Thieves (1996).

 

• John Powell dropped out of Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2003), Shrek 2 (2004) and Shark Tale (2004) to score the film.

 

• This is the first Blue Sky Studios film to not become a franchise.

 

• This was the first movie to feature the official trailer to Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) (also starring Ewan McGregor), where it was reported that Star Wars fans bought tickets to see the movie, either to leave when the trailer is over or watch the entire film, just to hear Ewan McGregor's performance in the film.

 

• The crew of My Life as a Teenage Robot (2002) attended a screening of this film.

 

• At the start of the scene where Rodney is at the Rivet Town train station, the "ticket taker robot" can be seen picking his nose and examining his finger behind the booth window. On the commentary of the DVD, one of the commentators states this as being an Easter egg.

 

• This is Ewan McGregor's first time pulling off an American accent in a feature film.

 

• According to Twitter user UntitledJunk, there exists an earlier, supposed "director's cut" version of the film where it features a slightly extended run time, removed characters, scenes, and much more well-developed characters such as Cappy. It even resulted in a trend known as #ReleasetheChrisWedgeCut where people would search for deleted scenes of the film leaked by the people who worked on the film, merchandise and marketing of it, and post it on Twitter. Chris Wedge did state on the DVD commentary that he would be interested in releasing a director's cut of his film at some point since he points out alternate takes of scenes that were changed, possibly due to executive meddling. The trend itself was also a nod to the infamous #ReleaseTheSnyderCut trend, and was also made to pay respect to Blue Sky Studios after its controversial shutdown by The Walt Disney Company.

 

• Jack Hammer, the hardware store owner, is based on a character from a test short made early in development to test the look the filmmakers wanted. He was a director working on a scene with an actress. The actress would also make it into the final film as a background character at the beginning of the film. Screenshots of the test appear as pictures hanging in Aunt Fanny's house. Coincidentally, the music used in the test was archived from the film, Down with Love (2003), a film starring Rodney's voice actor, ]Ewan McGregor.

 

• This film is dedicated to the memory of Blue Sky Studios founder and CEO David Boyd Brown (1938-2003). Blue Sky's first animation was a commercial for Braunn, after which it became an FX house. Planning on moving up to major motion pictures, he needed financing, which resulted in the sale of Blue Sky Studios to Twentieth Century Fox in 1997.

  The result was the major hit, Ice Age (2002), which fulfilled his dream just a year before he passed, which took place once Robots was well under way. Two of his very notable achievements were the development of software for creating CGI objects as solid shapes rather than complex constructions of polygons, and the development of rendering software that could create smooth metallic textures.

  The ultra-realistic rendering of both "new" and "aged" metal and painted object - that is, all of the visuals in Robots - was a landmark achievement. If one wants to compare these characters with their sources of inspiration, an Internet search for 1950s outboard motors provides an "aha" moment for audiences.

 

• The net weight of the box in which the baby is delivered is 3.5 kilograms. This would mean that Rodney would have a birth weight of seven pounds, and eleven ounces.

 

• One of the only two films from Twentieth Century Fox alongside Monkeybone (2001) to feature the involvement of Joe Ranft as he passed away after the release of this film. After this, Corpse Bride (2005), Sony Animation's first film Open Season (2006), and Disney films Chicken Little (2005) and Cars (2006) were all dedicated to his memory.

 

• Sid from Ice Age makes a cameo as a "sloth bot" in the background.

 

• After Rodney is dumped outside Bigweld Industries by the giant magnet, all the metal shavings from the slogan sign stick to his head, just like the old-time Magnetic Face toys.

 

• Aside from Star Wars releases, this is the only film released by Fox to include a playable demo if you insert the DVD disc into the original Xbox video game console.

 

• When Fender and Rodney arrive at the ball to try and get past Tim, we get a glimpse of the guest list. The names featured on the list are Mr. Vandersmelt, Forge, Silvia Goldbot, Cappy, Mme Goldie Van Bot, Ann Droid, and Mr. Silverleaf.

 

• In the opening scene as Mr Copperbottom walks in Rivet Town, one of the vendors sells ice cream called "Auntie Freeze". (This is a reference to radiator coolant/anti-freeze, a chemical used in radiators in vehicles in countries which experience low temperature or snowy weather).

 

• When Rodney first starts fixing the outmodes (after "Who wants to get fixed?"), the third robot, on which he works (fifth in the overall fixit sequence) is a reference to the children's game "Operation". Just as in the game, when Rodney is taking a wrench out of the character's left leg, he touches the tool to the rim of the hole. When he does, the "patient" robot's nose lights up and there's a background buzz.

 

• The green bulky robot's name is Lug. Though, it is never said in the movie. It was, however, mentioned in a deleted scene when Fender introduces the gang to Rodney while fixing his neck.

 

• One of the coffee pots on Aunt Fanny's coffee pot tray, is the same one, from which the wonder bot is made.

 

• Ewan McGregor's first time voice acting in a theatrical film. Later he'd go onto voice the titular character of Valiant (2005), Obi-Wan Kenobi's spirit in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, Lumiere the Candle in Beauty and the Beast (2017) and The Wish Collector in The Land of Sometimes.

 

• The second and last Blue Sky Studios film to be released on VHS after Ice Age (2002) (excluding international releases of Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006)) since the rest of the films were released only on DVD.

 

• This is one of the first major motion pictures to use the sound of a west African udu drum in the soundtrack. Composer John Powell used this traditional clay drum to create the tabla-like "whoop" sound heard in various music cues and themes throughout the picture.

 

• At one point, a voice box with a recording of Darth Vader's voice is found. Ewan McGregor, the voice of Rodney Copperbottom, played Obi-wan Kenobi in numerous Star Wars movies, including Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) which was released the same year as this film.

 

• After Fender steals Rodney Copperbottom's foot, Fender delivers the line "Foot, don't fail me now!", which is similar to the phrase "Feet, don't fail me now!", made famous by Stepin Fetchit.

 

• This is the first Blue Sky Studios film to not feature any humans.

 

• The phone booth's message about so many minutes a month; night, weekends and such, are a reference to the then-recent deregulation of the phone industry. By breaking the Bell Telephone monopoly it set the stage for multiple long-distance carriers to jump on the bandwagon, filling TV channels with constant commercials promoting one service or the other. The above references to minutes, weekends, etc., were features of those TV ads.

 

• Mel Brooks' first time voice acting in a theatrically released film. Later he'd go onto voice Albert Einstein in Mr. Peabody & Sherman (2014), Vlad the Elderly Vampire in the Hotel Transylvania films, Melephant Brooks the Toy Elephant in Toy Story 4 (2019), and Shogun Toshi the Cat in Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank (2022).

 

• When Fender and Rodney arrive at the Bigweld Ball, Wonderbot can be seen reaching the bar and a guest robot at the bar says "A screwdriver, please. Shaken, not stirred". This is very similar to the famous James Bond catchphrase "Shaken, not stirred" in preference for the preparation of his martini cocktail.

 

• Seth Macfarlane, Seth Rogen, John Goodman, Steve Martin, Steve Buscemi, David Cross, Will Forte, Paul Giamatti, Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy, James Franco, Larry The Cable Guy, Michael Peña, Ricky Gervais, Bruce Willis, Rob Paulsen, Jason Alexander, David Spade, Billy Crystal, Ryan Reynolds, Jon Cryer, Samuel E Wright, Randy Quaid, Pauly Shore, Danny Devito, Nathan Lane, Dave Thomas, Denis Leary, David Hyde Pierce, Martin Short, Hugh Laurie, Steve Zahn, Simon Pegg, Chris Rock, Peter Dinklage, and Jack Black were considered the role of Fender.

 

• According to the United States Postal Service, the mailbox that Al Roker voices is named ODIS.

 

• This is the first Blue Sky Studios' stand-alone film.

 

• Steve Carrell, Zachary Levi, Chris Pine, Garry Shandling, Jason Lee, Sean Faris, Owen Wilson, Michael J Fox, Matthew McConaughey, Leonardo DiCaprio, Nicolas Cage, Adam Sandler, Topher Grace, James Marsden, and John Cusack were considered for the role of Rodney Copperbottom.

 

• Blue Sky Studios' second feature film.

 

• First film in which Stanley Tucci and Ewan McGregor voice animated characters, the second being Beauty and the Beast (2017).

 

• Tim Allen, Bill Murray, Hugh Jackman, Craig T Nelson, Harry Shearer, Laurence Fishburne, John Goodman, James Caan, Brad Pitt, Kelsey Grammer, Jim Carrey, Christopher Lloyd, Wayne Brady, Stephen Fry, Ned Beatty, Dan Aykroyd, James Marsden, Tom Kenny, Hank Azaria, Robert Redford, Albert Brooks, Kevin James, Bill Nighy, Justin Long, Bob Odenkirk, Luis Guzmán, John Cleese, Samuel L Jackson, Peter Dinklage, Keith David, Bruce Campbell, Jim Cummings, Christopher Walken, and Robert De Niro were considered the role of Bigweld.

 

• "Aunt Fan", the name that was given to the character Aunt Fanny in both UK and Australian versions was actually her originally intended name, until Fox changed it to reflect and provide more humor to her appearance. You can notice through the lip-syncing from the characters and a deleted scene from the official DVD release (including the USA), where Rodney calls her the original name. It's possible that the audio takes of dialogue that features her original name used in the latter versions were the same ones used in the original workprints for the film. In the UK and a number of other countries, fanny is a word referring to female anatomy.

 

• Nominated by the American Film Institute for: 2008 - AIF's Top 10 List: Best Animated Film.

 

• Vincent D Onofrio, Scott Bakula, James Gandolfini, Michael Imperioli, John C Reilly, Kevin James, Norm Macdonald, Vincent Pastore, Tom Arnold, and Robert De Niro were considered for the role of Crank Casey before Drew Carey was cast.

 

• Paul Giamatti and Amanda Bynes were both in leads in the 2002 family-comedy, Big Fat Liar (2002).

 

• A version of James Brown's Get Up Offa That Thing is performed in Robots. A version of it also was performed in What a Girl Wants (2003), also featuring Amanda Bynes.

 

• In France, a voicebox that Diesel is trying is a french comment by Thierry Roland when french soccer team wins the World Cup of France in 1998.

 

• Paul Giamatti's first time voice acting in a theatrical film. Later he'd go onto voice Stan Beals the Exterminator in The Ant Bully (2006), Chet in Turbo (2013), and Drek in Ratchet & Clank (2016).

 

• Jim Broadbent's first time voice acting in a theatrical film since The Magic Roundabout (2004). Later he'd go onto voice the Pigeon Sergeant in Valiant (2005), Winston the Tortoise in Animals United (2010) and Santa Claus in Arthur Christmas (2011). Of all his theatrically released animated films, this is the only one to have Broadbent using an American accent instead of his regular speaking British accent for the character he voices.

 

• Ratchet is the first Blue Sky Studios character to be a hidden villain. This means that he is the secret secondary antagonist of this film.

 

• The film won an MTV (Mexico) Award for Best Song "Un Héroe Real" sung by Aleks Syntek. In the Latin American dub, Syntek voiced Rodney Copperbottom.

 

• Jennifer Coolidge's first time voice acting in a theatrical film. Later she's go onto voice Jacilyn and Heidi in Igor (2008), Durmessa in Hell and Back (2015), and Mary Meh in The Emoji Movie (2017).

 

• This is the first Blue Sky Studios film "Twentieth Century Fox Animation presents" credit.

 

• This is the first Blue Sky Studios movie to not get a sequel.

 

• Emily Osment, Jamie Lynn Spears, Gwen Stefani, and Hilary Duff were considered to voice Piper before Amanda Bynes was cast.

 

• Hugh Jackman, Chris Pine, Rupert Everett, Will Ferrell, Brad Pitt, Tom Hanks, Christian Bale, and Gene Hackman were considered the role of Phineas T. Ratchet.

 

• Vincent Pastore, Sylvester Stallone, Hank Azaria, and John C Reilly were considered the role of Lug.

 

• Robin Williams played a robot in Bicentennial Man (1999).

 

• This is the first Blue Sky Studios film to begin with opening credits and ended with closing credits.

 

• The first Blue Sky Studios film to begin with the opening credits.

 

• Jon Favreau was considered to voice Tim the Gate Guard.

 

• Robin Williams was offered the role of Bigweld but rejected it for Fender because Bigweld wasn't comedic enough to Robin Williams.

 

• David Cross, Richard Kind, Ashton Kutcher, Luke Wilson, and Justin Long were considered to voice Diesel before it was decided that he'd be a silent character.

 

• This is the first Blue Sky Studios film to be composed by John Powell.

 

• Harland Williams' first time voice acting in a theatrical film. Later he'd go onto voice Carl the Robot in Meet the Robinsons (2007), one of the giraffes in Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008), the Talking Ketchup, the Drug Dealer and Baba Ganoush in Sausage Party (2016), and Norman Pickering in The Addams Family (2019).

 

• This was Blue Sky Studios's only film not to be part of a series nor an adaptation.

 

• The Japanese rental-only VHS release of the film almost got a bit of criticism by YouTubers due to its inclusion of previews to two R-rated films released by Fox, aside from PG-13 ones. Garden State (2004) and most notably, Hide and Seek (2005). This was possibly due to many rating systems in Japan were being just recommendations, meaning that kids of all ages are allowed to access inappropriate content, which eventually led to home media companies add trailers to films with higher age ratings to kids content without any controversy, especially since there is no home video rating system in Japan alone.

 

• Ian Mcshane, Harry Shearer, Jon Favreau, George Lopez, Seth Green, and Trey Parker was considered the role for Tim the gate guard before Paul Giamatti was cast.

 

• Originally, Rodney was supposed to ride the Crosstown Express with one of the background characters from the film, an elderly lady bot who would do nothing but knit throughout the whole ride (aside from kissing Rodney midway), meaning that this is going to be a "show, don't tell" scene, until Fox commissioned that Fender should be replaced so he can give more screen time, thanks to Robin Williams' involvement, leading this to be a dialogue-heavy scene. You can still see the original version on FMVs for the film's video game tie-in, an early 'Inside Look' featurette included in home media releases of Garfield (2004), and the film's official art book.

 

• This is the first animated film released by Twentieth Century Fox since Titan A.E. (2000) to include a DTS audio track on its DVD release.

 

• When the film was released on DVD to French-speaking parts of Belgium, it came in a tin foiled slip box. This is considered rare for an animated film, and even all international DVD releases (including the US) of that genre to use this type of packaging.

 

• The 2010 Blu-Ray release includes the UK and Australian audio tracks in addition to the US audio track.

 

• Famke Janssen, Katherine Heigl, Jennifer Aniston, Kate Winslet, Bonnie Hunt, Anna Faris, Sharon Stone, Cameron Diaz, Julianna Margulies, Catherine Zeta Jones, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Laura Dern and Reese Witherspoon we're all considered the role of Cappy.

 

• At around the 26 minute mark, there is a sequence wherein Rodney becomes magnetized and a number of metal objects that he walks past get stuck to him, turning him into a walking mass of metal. This is likely an allusion to the film Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989)

 

• Canadian animator Don Kim worked as an animator for the film. he went on to become one of the assistant directors for season 2 of the animated series Corn & Peg (2019).

 

• Fender's European French voice actor, Elie Semoun previously voiced Zebedee in the French dub of The Magic Roundabout (2004) which that film was still in theaters when Robots was released in France.

 

• Willem Dafoe, Mike Myers, Charlie Sheen, John Goodman, Diego Luna, Martin Lawrence, Jack Nicholson, and David Schwimmer were considered to voice Herb Copperbottom.

 

• Ewan McGregor and James Earl Jones; who also appeared together in Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005); appear in this film with Mel Brooks and Stanley Tucci. Brooks directed the Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) parody, Spaceballs (1987). Tucci played Stanley Kubrick in The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004). Jones's first film was Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964), while McGregor appeared in Doctor Sleep (2019), the sequel to The Shining (1980).

 

• Jennifer Coolidge and Dan Hedaya starred in A Night at the Roxbury (1998), 7 years prior to this film.

 

• Steve Carell was the first choice for the role of Rodney Copperbottom, Famke Janssen was the first choice for the role of Cappy, Hugh Jackman was the first choice for the role of Phineas T. Ratchet, Tim Allen was the first choice for the role of Bigweld, Emily Osment was the first choice for the role of Piper Pinwheeler, Vincent D Onofrio was the first choice for the role of Crank Casey, Willem Dafoe was the first choice for Herb Copperbottom, Jane Kaczmarek was the first choice for Madame Gasket, Ian Mcshane was the first choice for Tim the gate guard, Vincent Pastore was the first choice for Lug and Seth MacFarlane was the first choice for the role of Fender Pinwheeler.

 

• Maggie Gyllenhaal, Katie Holmes, Julia Stiles, Lindsay Lohan, Lauren Holly, Hayden Panettiere, Michelle Trachtenberg, Vanessa Hudgens and Anneliese van der Pol were considered for the role of Piper Pinwheeler.

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