Servo

A Servo is a robot that was introduced in The Sims: Livin' Large. The name possibly refers to "servus", which is Latin for slave. When translated literally, it means "I look after".

The Sims
"Shiny Things Inc. makes dreams come alive! Meet Servo, our new experimental home robot. Tired of cleaning? Cooking? Gardening? REPAIRING? Your lack of respect for the dignity of work gives Servo a reason to live! Servo is self-powered, self-guiding, self-cleaning and self-denying! Concentrate on living. Let Servo do the rest!!!"

Servos are bought at the cost of a whopping §15,000, but will walk around the house cleaning up messes and repairing broken items, so Sims don't have to. Servos will also do gardening, but appear to do so on the gardener's every-three-days schedule. A Servo that has nothing else to do may attempt to converse with or entertain visitors. A Servo can be told to make a group meal for Sims. Since Servo literally makes the food, without using a fridge or stove, these meals aren't very fulfilling, but they are free, and a child can tell Servo to make food.

Servo comes with its own charging chamber, and will return to it and turn itself off when it has nothing more to do. Servo's charging chamber also has the control panel that's used to turn it on, and can be used to turn it off or tell it to serve food.

The Sims 2
"Gardening? Check. Cooking? Check. Periodic bursts of wanton destruction? Indeed, check. This friendly humanoid robot is truly but one step from humanity. The Servo Model has a gender-assignable artificial intelligence unit that simulates all the desires of a real human: friendship, success... even love. Just make sure you keep the Servo Model in a good mood, else you'll be the one cleaning up all the ash piles while your new friend lies sparking in the corner."

When The Sims 2 Open for Business expansion pack came out, Servo returned - as an artificially intelligent Sim. There are some differences: Servo isn't concerned with comfort or hygiene or temperature, and doesn't need to eat; but The Sims 2 Servo is essentially a Sim in robotic form. As such, a Servo is fully controllable, and has relationships, wants, fears, aspirations, etc., just like normal Sims. A Servo can get a job, or be employed by a business, or even own a business. A Servo can even WooHoo.

Building & Activating
To build a Servo a Robot Crafting Station and a Gold talent badge in Robotics is needed. Building a Servo costs §3000, and takes about six game hours, not counting breaks.

When built, Servo is switched off and can only be activated by a Sim (teen or older) if there is room in the household for another member. The Servo can be activated as male or female, and can be given a name when activated. The Servo takes on the personality, skill points, and last name of the Sim who activates it.

Since an activated Servo is considered an adult, Servo cannot be activated in a college sub-neighborhood.

An unactivated Servo can be marked for sale in a business. If the Average price is selected, the Servo will be priced at slightly over §6000.
 * Buying and selling

Servo can be unlocked by using testingcheatsenabled and shift left clicking on any Sim, then clicking Spawn/More, and then clicking Servo.
 * Spawn Servo Cheat

Features
Servo comes with 10 points in Cooking, Mechanical and Cleaning, and will take on all other skill points of the Sim who activates it. Servo also comes with one or more random talent badges, and will often have a gold badge. Servo also takes on the aspiration, turn ons and turn offs, and personality of the Sim who activates it, though it may have a different Lifetime Want. Servo can also alternate between everyday and formal attire, with the only formal wear option being a tuxedo jacket (male) or a hot pink dress (female).

Servos cannot use clothing racks on community lots, so one thing a Servo can't do that a normal adult Sim can is buy clothes for other household members.

Servos can get jobs, and can even have job-related Lifetime Wants, but since they never become elders (they only have an adult life stage), they cannot retire. Since they only have an adult life stage, they cannot attend college, so the University careers (Artist, Natural Science, Paranormal, and Show Business) are closed to them. By default, Servos will do chores when no actions are manually queued by the player, but there are game modifications which can affect this or even prevent it.

Servos never age and thus can live with a family for generations. They can be powered down, and can be left powered down indefinitely, effectively making them un-playable. However, they cannot be completely de-activated.

Like normal Sims, they can fall in love and get married to other Servos, and even to normal Sims. They can not reproduce naturally, but they can adopt. They can father children with the Tombstone of Life and Death. Servos have the invisible face genetic, like the Grim Reaper, so if the player cheats to make a Sim pregnant with a Servo, the baby's genetics will have the first default face, and might have some of the mother's genetics.

Servos can be combined with the Vampire, Zombie, Werewolf, and Witch Life states. Vampire Servos rapidly lose power in sunlight, and recharge in coffins (or beds, if none are available). Werewolf Servos regain all of their Power motive at night. This effectively makes them active 24/7.

An odd feature is that, since Servo can eat, but has no Hunger meter, anything it eats transfers directly to the fitness gauge, making it "fat" by Sim standards.

Needs
Servo has only 4 Needs: Power, Social, Fun and Environment. Power can be restored either through Recharging, in which Servo goes under the sun to recharge, or by sleeping, in which case Power is replenished at the same rate that a normal Sim would replenish Energy. Also, drinking the Elixir of Life while in gold or platinum aspiration will restore a Servo's Power, and Servos can use The Eclectic and Enigmatic Energizer. Servos can also select a Secondary aspiration and Aspiration benefits if the player has the FreeTime expansion. Servos can gain power from eating along with sleeping and recharging, though this may depend on which other expansion packs are installed.

Dangers
Water to Servo is like fire to Sims except the effects are much more. Water will drain all of Servo's needs extremely fast, especially Power. If Seasons is installed, a Servo may autonomously decide to splash in a puddle. It's probably a good idea to interrupt this before the Servo gets to the puddle. While Servos do not have Hygiene or Comfort motives, a Servo can be told to use a shower or bathtub. Fortunately, they will not do so autonomously. A Servo may even have a want to use a hot tub. Since Sims have to get into shower stalls to clean them, cleaning a shower stall may be hazardous to a Servo.

When broken, Servo will run amok and cause havoc. Nearby Sims can be electrocuted by Servo at this time. Eventually he will power down, allowing someone to repair him. If nobody is on the lot at that time the repairman will automatically come to repair the broken Servo.

The Sims 3


Servos will re-appear for the third time in The Sims 3: Ambitions. Not much is known, but in a photo, a Servo is seen in the background. It's appearance looks much less advanced than the Servos in The Sims and The Sims 2.

There is a statue of one inside the science lab. There is a level in the Science career called Creature-Robot Crossbreeder, this could be a reference to Servos.

They also make an appearance in a TV show (on the action channel) as an army being commanded by a mad scientist, and are defeated by a female protagonist.

This was actually part of a The Sims 2: FreeTime music video called "Fa-Fa-Fa" by Datarock.

Player Tips

 * Servos needs are little and easy to deal with, so it's better to start a business with them.
 * Servos never age, so they can live forever. It is a good idea to create a Servo to watch over the family for generations if you plan on making a legacy family or a big family.
 * Bigfoot and Servo can be great for a busy family. Bigfoot is an excellent worker and so are Servos. Combined, a business can prosper, babysitters aren't required if one stays unemployed, and the place is bound to be tidy because of a Servo's need to clean.
 * Sims can dress up as Servos. To do that, get a Servo, buy a wardrobe, go into Plan Outfit...Outfit and they can dress up as a Servo
 * Also their heads (hair) are available in CAS via debugging cheats but it has an odd appearance.
 * While Servos do not need to eat, they may do so anyway if told to serve food. If you want a Servo to prepare food, it may be better to use the "Make" option, and leave the serving to a normal Sim.
 * Some people have tried to kill the Servo using the testingcheatsenabled cheat. Try it yourself and see what happens!
 * Servos can be killed by satellite. If University is installed, they can also be eaten by the Cowplant.