The skutters are motorized service and maintenance robots that stand at around tall, appearing as motorized boxes with a single limb each, ending in a three-clawed hand with an electronic eye. They perform menial tasks around the ship, such as sweeping the cinema floors after a movie, or painting the corridor walls. The skutters are unable to speak (except with bleeping noises), but can usually make their feelings clear. Their hands are particularly well designed for giving "flipping the bird" (a.k.a. "up yours") gestures with one or two digits, most often to Rimmer. Their behavior is rather more human-like than might be expected for such crudely designed robots; they play cowboys-and-Indians, enjoy watching films, are highly emotional and appear to be somewhat unstable and malfunctional, presumably as a result of 3 million years of continuous operation.