Carl is the robot who works for the Robinson Family. Built with a golden body and stretching parts, Carl's general assignment is to keep an eye on Wilbur and keep him out of trouble. He is the tritagonist of Meet the Robinsons
Role in the film[]
When Wilbur and Lewis managed to push the ruined time machine back to the Robinson house, Carl was in the garage and opened a porthole, demanding in an ominous voice who dared to violate his sanctum. Wilbur ordered him to open the door, but Carl refused unless he speaks the secret password which he made-up while Wilbur was gone. Wilbur pointed that he couldn't speak the password if he was already gone. Seeing his logic used against him, Carl let them in. But upon learning that Wilbur brought his father's younger self, Lewis, Carl's inventor, from the past, Carl panicked and rushed up the travel tube.
"That and someone took my bike"
Wilbur followed the hysteric robot and argued against informing the family that he had allowed the Bowler Hat Guy to steal one of the time machines and risking the disruption of the time-space continuum. Wilbur assured Carl that he had a plan to restore the timeline, involving keeping Lewis in the garage away from everybody, give him the "pep talk of the century", fixes the time machine (Carl criticizes why the model of the time machine had be an acorn in Wilbur's diorama of his plan), goes back to the Science Fair to fix his memory scanner, thus setting everything right. Carl asked about his promise to take Lewis back to see his mother, to which Wilbur admits that he lied to buy some time but he was certain his plan would work. However, on the off chance he was wrong, Carl calculated that he would cease to exist. Though despaired a bit, Wilbur put on a cheery attitude as Carl handed him the time machine blueprints.
Later, as Wilbur and Lewis were summoned to dinner with the Robinsons, Carl unleashed a series of mini-Carls to serve the family spaghetti and meatballs. He then got ready to serve PB and J but the machine failed to work, so Wilbur volunteered Lewis to fix it. He fails, causing the invention to spray PB and J all over, but the Robinsons don't fault him, as they quote Cornelius Robinson's motto, "Keep Moving Forward", which Carl displays with fireworks and a fortune cookie.
After the Robinsons discover Lewis' identity and Wilbur's lie is exposed, Lewis takes an offer from the Bowler Hat Guy to repair his memory scanner. However, Wilbur and Carl rescue both him and his memory scanner. As they made their way back to the Robinson house, Lewis reveals that he knows he's Wilbur's father. Then suddenly, DOR-15 destroys Carl by impaling him in the chest before retaking the memory scanner to rejoin the Bowler Hat Guy and changed the future.
When Lewis managed to set everything right and the Robinsons said their goodbyes, Carl suggests to his inventor that when he invents him, that he alter the design so that he would have muscles.
Trivia[]
- In a deleted scene where Carl locks himself in a closet after Lewis' arrival, Carl writes a note to communicate with Wilbur at one point. The note is written on Winnie the Pooh stationary.