Ancient Robot

The Ancient Robots are a race featured in Skyward Sword. They are very intelligent mechanical beings who inhabit the Lanayru Province and are powered by Timeshift Stones.

History
Thousands of years ago, when the Lanayru Desert was a vast, green landscape, the Ancient Robots performed various mining tasks in the area. However, the land's natural resources were eventually depleted and the land withered, leaving the robots to break down and litter several areas of the desert.

Link can bring the Ancient Robots back to life by hitting the Timeshift Stones scattered throughout the desert. Once saved from a group of Technoblins, one of the awakened robots will grant Link the Hook Beetle upgrade, allowing the Beetle to pick up and drop objects from above.

An inactive Ancient Robot can be seen behind the Scrap Shop in the Bazaar on Skyloft, passed down to Gondo by his grandfather. Gondo claims that his grandfather used to have a flying robot named Scrapper that could transport anything. Link can reactivate this robot by giving an Ancient Flower to Gondo.

A group of these robots crewed the Sandship which protects Nayru's Flame before pirates took it over and imprisoned them. Skipper was the captain of the ship, but when the pirates took over the ship, they threw him into the sea, where he drifted on the currents to the port in Lanayru.

Types
Most robots are part of the mass-produced LD-301 Series. They do not usually have names, although Scrapper and Skipper are exceptions. These robots can be commonly seen around Lanayru Desert, and usually mine Timeshift Stones and perform maintenance. The miners are obedient to the dragon Lanayru, and must ask him for permission to collect and make use of Timeshift Stones. They worry about their master when he is ill, and try to plant a Life Tree Seedling to revive him.

Scervo and Dreadfuse are part of the LD-002 and LD-003 Series, respectively. They seem to be more aggressive than the LD-301 Series and serve as mini-bosses. Scervo can be found on the Sandship, but Dreadfuse resides outside the desert in Sky Keep.

Trivia

 * In the very beginning of the Lanayru Mine area, massive rock formations can be seen in the distance that appear to be giant versions of the standard Ancient Robot.
 * All known Ancient Robots have "LD-" and a model number number prefixed to their names. LD stands for Lanayru Desert, which is strange, as the robots were supposedly built before the area became a desert.
 * Unlike real robots, the Ancient Robots have emotions. They are thankful when Link saves them from Technoblins, they are worried when the Thunder Dragon is sick and Scrapper was happy when someone fixed him, but was surprised when discovered that it was Link.
 * Lanayru considers giving Link a model number, (LD-Link-16), but Link isn't fond of the name.
 * The number 16 refers to the fact that Skyward Sword is the 16th game in the Zelda canon.
 * The Ancient Robots are based on Dogū, which are clay figurines and pottery found in the Jomon period of Japan.
 * Blueprints of the Sand Ship can be found in the Shipyard, bearing Hylian writing that translates to "Dogu Ship".
 * A symbol found throughout Lanayru Desert and the Sand Ship appears to be based off the helmet design on the Ancient Robots. This symbol may be the official symbol for the Ancient Robots. See gallery for a side by side comparison.