Robots
- Grades: 6 to 9
- Common Sense Media: parents say 6+, kids say 7+
- CS strength: 3 out of 5
- SEL strength: 4 out of 5
- Rotten Tomatoes: 62% critics, 54% audience
What happens
Rodney Copperbottom is a young inventor from Rivet Town who grew up watching his dad wash dishes and dreaming of working for his hero, the famous inventor Bigweld. He travels to Robot City with an invention to show Bigweld, only to find that Bigweld Industries has been taken over by Ratchet. Ratchet has stopped making spare parts so older robots have to buy expensive upgrades, and he calls the robots who can’t pay “outmodes.” Rodney starts fixing broken robots for free, and finds out what it takes to stand up to a company that wants everyone to buy something new.
Why we watch it
Robots is about robots who build, repair and invent, so it connects to engineering and to the idea that a good idea starts with noticing a need. It is also a good movie about perseverance, about how ads make us feel like we are not good enough, and about what to do with the money you have. The worksheet includes a short needs versus wants budget.
Teacher ideas (before the movie)
Short warm-ups for the start of the block (each takes 2 to 5 minutes, and they matter most when the film is shorter than the period). All of them tie to the film’s themes of wanting new things, being worth something, and noticing needs.
- Wheel of Names (the one used in class): paste in the class list and spin to pick who answers. “What’s something you really wanted, got, and then realized wasn’t worth it?” Spin for several students. It sets up Ratchet’s upgrades and the needs vs. wants question on the back.
- Show of hands: quick questions, hands up, no explanations needed. Then pick a few hands to say more.
- Who has ever bought something because an ad or a friend made it look cool?
- Who has ever bought something and regretted it?
- Who has a phone or game that suddenly needed an upgrade or got slow?
- Slogan check: put “Why be you when you can be new?” on the board with no context. Ask where students have seen a message like it (ads, social media, shoe and phone releases). Revisit it at question 5.
- New or needed? (four corners): Would you rather be the newest model or the one everyone depends on? Corners: newest, needed, both, neither. One student per corner explains.
- One minute quick-write: “Name something that is old or broken and still worth keeping or fixing.” Share two or three. This sets up Fender and the Rusties.
- See a need: pairs have 90 seconds to name one thing at school that bothers people and an invention that could fix it. Come back to it after the film at question 8.
- Predict from the title: what would a city made only of robots be like, and who might get left out? Write guesses on the board and check them at the end.
Before you watch
Think about this: what is something you really wanted, finally got, and then realized wasn't worth it? Why did you want it so much?
Standards alignment
Answer key and teacher notes
- B Why does Rodney leave Rivet Town and travel to Robot City?
- B What does Rodney invent at the start of the movie?
- B What does Ratchet stop making so that older robots are forced to buy expensive upgrades?
- C Rodney's dad, Herb, works hard washing dishes at a job he doesn't love, but he still encourages Rodney to leave home and chase his dream. Why does Herb do this?
- B Ratchet's slogan is "Why be you when you can be new?" What is this message really trying to make robots believe?
Questions 1 to 3 are plot comprehension. Questions 4 and 5 ask students to read motive and message rather than recall plot.
CASEL focus by question:
- 4: Social Awareness (reading a parent’s motives and sacrifice)
- 5: Responsible Decision-Making (recognizing manipulative messaging)
- 6: Self-Management (perseverance through rejection)
- 7: Social Awareness (valuing people others dismiss; media literacy)
- 8: Responsible Decision-Making and Relationship Skills (service to community)
- 9: Responsible Decision-Making and financial literacy (needs vs. wants, budgeting, saving). Key: needs = oil 25 + rent 30 + spare part 20 = 75 bolts, leaving 25. The upgrade (60) does not fit this week. Strong answers save the extra: skipping movie night saves 25 a week, so about 3 weeks; keeping movie night saves 15 a week, so 4 weeks. Movie night is a want, but a reasonable one; accept either choice if the math is right.
- 10: Self-Awareness (self-reflection and identity)
Content note: Rated PG for brief language and some rude humor, mostly slapstick and bodily-noise jokes. Fine for grades 6 to 9.