The Domestobot is a robotic servant mass-produced in the 1980s, mentioned throughout the 3D Universe and the HD Universe of the Grand Theft Auto series.
Description[]
It appears to be based on the Tomy Omnibot 2000, though the head is more similar to that of the Nintendo R.O.B..
The Domestobot is one of the few elements in the 3D Universe games that is not in keeping with the time frame. Although there were toy "robots", some with speech synthesizers, that were popular in the early 1980s, such as those that inspired the Domestobot, as well as much speculation as to whether robot servants would become available commercially, in a practical sense during the time frame of the games, such devices were not yet available to the sophistication shown in the Grand Theft Auto games; for example, Armando is able to give his Domestobot complex verbal instructions such as ordering it to fetch a snack and a drink, or to go to a specific room and perform a specific task.
The Domestobot has five different arm attachments: a grabber (for picking up items), a brush (for cleaning), a lighter (for lighting cigars), a dildo (for pleasuring women), and a radar detector.
Performance[]
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories[]
The Domestobot has the same handling and engine noise as the Forklift. The forward speed is slower than even the player character's running speed; its reverse is actually faster than its forward motion.
GTA Vice City Stories Overview[]
| Acceleration (0-60 mph in Seconds) |
Top Speed (mph / kmh) |
Gears | Engine | Drivetrain (FWD / RWD / AWD) |
Mass (kg / lbs) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N/A | 16 / 25 | 1 | Electric | AWD | 1450 / 3197 |
| N/A | N/A | 1 | N/A | AWD | Cannot be observed |
Mentions throughout the series[]
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories[]
Domestobot during the Domo Arigato Domestoboto mission.
The Domestobot is prominent in the mission Domo Arigato Domestoboto (set in 1984). Lance Vance plans to destroy Armando Mendez's vault containing his bonds and gets hold of some high-tech equipment that can control Armando's Domestobot, which was bought under the encouragement of Diego. Vic Vance received word of the delivery before Lance and decided to take out the bonds using the Domestobot himself. The Domestobot can be driven and is obtainable through cheat devices and third party programs.
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City[]
Set in 1986, the radio spot for the Domestobot aired on Emotion 98.3 and KCHAT. The advertisement informs the listener that it is three feet high, says only ten different phrases, and is a robotic servant.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas[]
Set in 1992, Adam First calls into Area 53 on WCTR to report seeing a group of Domestobots in the middle of the desert while hang gliding. Later on, Area 53 receives a caller going by the name of 632369439, a Domestobot programmed for evil (As said by the radio's host. Although the caller right before said a man in the desert was performing weird "rituals" to the Domestobots, so the evil response would be for defence). Both Marvin Trill and 632369439 imply that Marvin is the one who is performing the "rituals" as Marvin tells Adam that the man in the desert wants to be left alone and 632369439 says that he knows what Marvin has been doing to his Domestobot "brothers".
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories[]
Set in 1998, before The Electron Zone on LCFR, a woman is heard on the air saying that she is "the first woman married to a Domestobot."
Grand Theft Auto IV[]
Set in 2008, the company that produced the Domestobot, Electro Toys, releases a new creation called El Chamuco Roboto, a Mexican gardener bot that has an official website accessible in internet cafes.
There is also an in-game website devoted to the Domestobot, Domestobotlovers.com.
Grand Theft Auto V[]
Set in 2013, Radio Los Santos host Big Boy asks his listeners if anybody remembers the Domestobot, commenting that "We have internet glasses, but not our own robot butler."
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
General[]
- The Domestobot parodies 1980s home robots, such as the Heathkit HERO and Omnibot 2000. Robots also appeared in films of the era, such as Short Circuit. In Rocky IV, Rocky buys his brother in law, Paulie, a robot that looks very similar to the Domestobot, which he reprograms with a female voice and new suggestive dialogue options.
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories[]
- The Domestobot is always grey. However, according to the game files, it is actually associated with three color schemes, in which the Domestobot is always given a yellow primary color. This is never seen in the game, though. Therefore, it can be concluded that the Domestobot spawns with a set texture. Strangely, the same three color schemes are reused for the Forklift.
- The Domestobot, through the use of cheat devices and third party programs, can be spawned without a head.
- The Mendez Cartel members show a huge dislike towards Domestobot, as they will say lines like "Oh, get away from me, robots!" and "What's with this stupid robot?!" Armando also shows his dislike towards the Domestobot, referring to it as an "electric trash can".
- The screen display of the Domestobot shows a series of different messages and commands, which have no effect on the actual mission, but are a mixture of techno-babble, jokes and references:
- It will show its "prime directives", as a nod to the 1987 sci-fi film RoboCop. Domestobot's directives are:
- Directive 1: Serve the owner's house.
- Directive 2: Protect the cleaning implements.
- Directive 3: Uphold the clean floor.
- Directive 4: "Classified"
- "Prime directive override enabled" is yet another reference to RoboCop.
- "Degenatron male/female interface enabled" is a reference to the fact that one of the Domestobot's arm attachments is a dildo.
- "Flux Capacitor at 110%" is a reference to Back to the Future, which is another '80s sci-fi film.
- "Guru Meditation In Progress" is a reference to an error message found on the Commodore Amiga.
- "Hi-res graphics 160x200 enabled" is a reference to the CGA graphics system.
- "Hi-Speed Tape System Active: 300 Baud" is a geek joke as actual data tape speeds were up to 1000 times faster than this in 1984. It may also be a reference to the Kansas City standard tape system.
- "Inserting floppy disk in drive" is another reference to 80s computers.
- "Missing Keyboard Error: Hit Key To Continue", a silly sounding but misunderstood BIOS error message that first appeared in IBM's AT class personal computers. This blog post explains why this error message exists and why it isn't as stupid as it first looks.
- "RAM Pack Wobble Detected" refers to a poorly designed memory expansion cartridge for the ZX81 home computer which had a habit of randomly crashing the computer.
- "rm -rf * In Progress" refers to a command in Unix-like operating systems that deletes the entire contents of a file system.
- "Spline Reticulating Value 0.1124%", a joke about a meaningless phrase which originated from SimCity 2000.
- "Syntax Error? In Line 50", a common error message in the BASIC programming language.
- "Total Memory 64KB. 38911 Bytes Free" is a reference to the startup message displayed by the Commodore 64 home computer. The loading screen in GTA Vice City also contains a short tribute to the Commodore 64's tape loader.
- "Transwarp Drive: Offline" is a reference to the fictional propulsion system used by spacecraft in the Star Trek universe.
- "Turbo CPU Speed Activated: 1.094MHz" is a geek joke as PCs with Turbo switches ran much faster than this even when Turbo mode was turned off.
- It will show its "prime directives", as a nod to the 1987 sci-fi film RoboCop. Domestobot's directives are:
- Another displayed message is "Domestobot OS v1.02 (c) 1984 Domestobot Corp".