Characters from "The Works"

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William "Bil" Maher "created many of 'The Works' cast of 25 robots" (-"Inside The Works" by Suzan Prince). I don't actually have 25 robots to show, but there are still plenty to see! I've included some info on designers and modelers if available.
Thumbnail images link to full-size images hosted on their respective websites! There are also short notes if you hover over an image or "[src]".

I highly recommend checking out Paul Heckbert's website, where a lot of wonderful information here is from, and watching the videos listed on the Resources page to see characters in motion.

Humans


T-Square
T-Square is a human (sometimes referred to as an android) pilot, often seen wearing a detailed metallic space-suit. She lives with her parents in Megapod, a manmade city in an asteroid belt. Unique to the storyboards, she and Beeper are coworkers in a mining operation.
She appears in the trailer and is discussed in "Inside The Works", where she's referred to as the "heroine" of the film. In the script, her role is minor, as a close friend of Beeper, and later an important pilot. At some point in early production, such as in the storyboards, T-Square took on Beeper's role as protagonist.


Beeper Raxis
Beeper is a teenage human boy who lives in Megapod. He's friends with T-Square, and the two play a sport called gyroball together. He was recruited by Ipso Facto & Selene to prove to The Works that humanity is alive. Unique to the storyboards, he's coworkers with T-Square in a mining operation, implying he is older.
Beeper is the main character of the script, but has few appearances. At some point in production, as seen in the storyboards, Beeper took the place of T-Square as a secondary character.

A couple other humans are named in the script.
• Rathbone Twillie, nicknamed Space Rat, is the Emergency Communications Coordinator of the humans. He seems to be friends with Beeper and T-Square.
• Frank Fabley Shaver is a reporter for Sleepcycle Spacepod News.

Computers


The Works
The Works is a military supercomputer stationed on Earth. He represents himself on-screen as a warped, faceted human face. He is grumpy and senile, with little patience to deal with others. With the lack of humans to give him orders, he's obsessed with building strange structures.
His face appears briefly in the trailer, and he's the main antagonist of the story.

Selene
Selene is the computer complex of a scientific research station on the Moon, which has also become devoid of humans. She represents herself on-screen as a photo of the Moon. In contrast with The Works, she is calm and diplomatic, with a bit of a fun nature. Before she speaks, she sounds a "bell-like tone". She built Ipso and his ships, and sent him on his mission to contact humans.
Selene is a supporting character in the script.

Robots


Ipso Facto
Ipso Facto is a "charming elliptical robot"[src]; he's orange with a round oval body and long lanky limbs. He can open his mouth to reveal a signboard that projects words. Despite his silly appearance, which is to "allay suspicion and forestall hositilty"[src], he is a skilled fighter. He's a protagonist and helper to the main human. Similar to Selene, he comes from the Moon, and has a diplomatic personality.
Ipso Facto was featured on the front of Byte Magazine along with an Ant in 1984. He's seen in the Trailer and animation compilation, and is a main character in the script. Ipso was designed and modeled by Lance Williams.


Clyde
Clyde is a tall humanoid robot with an orange body and teal and purple accents, and a large emblem of a "W" on his chest. Apparently he was to be a supporting role to the protagonists. Curiously, there are more robots with a similar model to him, but with a single button on their chest instead of a letter emblem, which is called an Ant Jockey- but for simplicity's sake their pictures are listed under here.
Clyde is seen in the trailer and is (or, his model is) in many different pieces of art from the NYIT CGL, and the Ant Jockey is in the construction clip. He's not present by name in the script, and he's absent in other production materials. Clyde was designed and modeled by Ned Greene.

Ant
The Ant is a line of huge vehicles, its bug-eyes being cockpits. Its jaw can hold and maneuver objects, making it useful in construction.
The Ant is seen often in videos (such as in the trailer, construction clip, and 1982 demo reel), and was featured with Ipso on a cover of Byte magazine. Ipso and Beeper pilot a stolen Ant in the script. The Ant was designed and modeled by Dick Lundin.

Panzer
Panzer is a chunky orange robot with a dome-like head and powerful arms, supported by wheels or treads.
Panzer appears in the trailer and construction clip, as well as for the main image for the article "Inside The Works" from Computer Pictures (which is where their name comes from). Like Clyde, there are some variations between designs here, so they may or may not be the exact same character. Panzer was modeled by Dick Lundin.

Officer Weevil
Officer Weevil is a slick black robot, with a humanoid build except for their three legs. Their arm ends in a gun, and the shape of their head makes it look like they are wearing sunglasses and have a pompadour.
Weevil is seen in production materials, but only seen in motion at the end of the trailer, when they fire a gun-like hand at the viewer. Several sketches of construction robots similarly have three legs. Weevil was modeled by Carter Burwell.

Bulldog
This is a squat blue robot with purple and orange accents. They have red eyes against a black face, and little silver antennae.
They appear briefly in the trailer and in the CGL's 1984 demo reel. The name comes from Heckbert's website. Bulldog was modeled by Carter Burwell.

Gizmo
This is an orange bot with a squat car-shaped body and tube arms ending in humanoid hands. He has glassy eyes set within cones at the end of little stems, and he rolls around on treads. In the script, he has a nervous personality and speaks in a high-pitched voice. He's a sort of assistant to The Works, described as a "stooge".
He appears briefly in the trailer, and in another short by the NYIT CGL, "3DV". Production sketches confirm that this design is indeed The Works's assistant.

Positioner
This robot has a grey body with purple and red accents, and a blue accordion-like midsection. Their chunky arms end in dish-like shapes.
They appear briefly in the trailer. Their name comes from production materials.

Humpty
This is an orange humanoid robot with an egg-shaped body, with a round glass dome as a face. Multiple lenses are visible through the glass. Their left hand & feet are clawed, and their right hand is removable, able to be replaced with various tools.
This robot is seen in the Construction clip, and their name comes from production materials. They are very similar to the next robot discussed, who is unnamed.

[Unnamed]
Another orange humanoid robot with an egg-shaped body, very similar to Humpty. They have a round glass dome as a face, a clawed left hand, and a right hand ending in spines or drills. Different from Humpty, their arms are connected to a large octagonal segment, and their feet are different.
This robot is seen in the trailer, and in a silver untextured state in the short "3DV". They remain unnamed in production materials.

Driller
This robot has a pill-shaped upper body supported by a stem on four wheels. Little tube-like projections, probably lenses, come from the front of their body. Their build allows them to roll smoothly on rough terrain.
This robot is seen in the trailer & construction clip, and their arm might be seen in "3DV". Their name comes from production materials.

Pogo
This is a thin green robot that bounces around like a pogo stick. They have four feet that can extend to hold them steady, and they have a welding tool at their top.
They are in the construction clip, and might have a role in the script. The name Pogo comes from production materials.

Wilbur
This robot is humanoid in build, with large round eyes on a squat head. In the trailer, their body jerks and twists in odd ways.
They appear briefly in the trailer and 1980 teaser, and in a picture from Wayne Carlson's website. Their model also appears in another short by NYIT CGL, "3DV", in which their name is Wilbur. This name is also used in production materials.

Jal
Jal is a humanoid robot made of mismatched parts. It walks with an unsteady stride. In the script, Beeper and Ipso revive an unnamed robot made of found parts, which is likely this design. It speaks slowly and with a whining hum, and Beeper affectionately called it "old timer". Jal is probably short for "jalopy", which it calls itself.[src]
Jal appears briefly in production materials (where its name is from) and in the short film "3DV". It might be present in the script.

The Dinosaur Squadron
This is a collection of small flying disc-shaped robots that can combine into one powerful dinosaur-like body. The Works sent them out to chase down Beeper and Ipso in the script.
They only appear in the script and in sketches on the tapes compiled by Ephraim Cohen. Bil Maher shared a small sketched sequence of them on his Tumblr blog in 2016.

[Unnamed]
This is a small two-legged robot, with a tear-shaped head and eyes mounted on a swivelling disc. Its two feet end in treads, and it moves as if skating.
This robot is only seen in production materials as "earth robot" or "earth", and briefly in the CGL's 1984 demo reel.

Rusty
Rusty is a portly robot supported by two wheels. In the script, he plays poker with a group of robots who bet parts instead of money-- as a sore loser, he ends up betting away a lot of his parts, and even his CPU, which Ipso and Beeper use for information.
Rusty appears in the script, but his only visual appearance is in a wireframe drawing.

Finally, here are some robots mentioned by name in the screenplay.
• Crank is a construction robot that often wins at poker. His body is crowded with all the parts he won. He has a "boorish and monotonous" laugh [src].
• Widget is an undescribed friend of Rusty who finds the latter's memory with the help of Ipso's disembodied hand.
• Znafu is a random other robot mentioned by the poker players.
• Joint Juke is a jukebox-shaped robot with a hat and cane. They're a part of Joint Juke and the Algorithm Band, a holographic display that plays "honky-tonk" music.

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