Robotsmall and Robotbig



"Robotsmall and robotbig" are the internal animation file names for two non-hostile robots in Metroid: Samus Returns. They appear to have been created by the Chozo for mining purposes when they established their colony on SR388.

"Robotbig" appears in the background of Area 3, using its pickaxe-like arms to strike rock on the ground. They are not hostile and cannot directly interact with Samus, nor be attacked or damaged by her. Inactive units of this type can also be seen in the background, scattered among a cliffside. They have a single red eye. The Diggernaut, a massive Chozo mining robot first encountered later on in Area 3, appears to be an upgraded version of these robots. An army of "robotbig" units are seen in the third Chozo Memory, which depicts maintenance on the Diggernaut in a large complex. A group of these robots can be seen in a lower cavern uncovering a luminescent, glowing substance, presumably Aeion. Similar, albeit broken robots can be seen in the backgrounds of Area 7.

"Robotsmall" are, as the name implies, smaller mining robots. They are only seen in Area 6, during the cutscene preceding the Diggernaut battle. The robots flee through the massive door that the Diggernaut opens when confronting Samus, and are not seen elsewhere in the game.

Both of these robots share the debug name "chozo hardware" in the game's internal files. The filename of one of their animations is "robotsmallworking_lookup".