An orbitus was a multi-functional robot not usually seen on any other world but Skaro. Nevertheless, Captain Rod Marlow found one while on a mission to a planet the Daleks had deserted. He brought it back and gave to his son, Roger, as a birthday present. The orbitus would soon thereafter save Roger's life when the boy was captured by criminals Sheer and Karsoff.
The full range of the robot's capabilities was unknown. Nevertheless, some facts were observed about the orbitus. It had the capacity to adapt extremely quickly to its master's wishes. Above and beyond the extraordinary ability to process human speech and make logical deductions about that which it heard, it also had:
- a geomath calculator which helped it play draughts and other board games
- a sensor receiver, which allowed it to "hijack" images being shown at local cinemas and display them locally
- sonic difuser beams, which allowed for simple cleaning tasks
- photomatic memory cells, which gave it"all the knowledge in the world"
- anti-grav propulsors, shich converted it into a high-speed vehicle
- the ability to travel underwater and to provide air bubbles for organic passengers
- metron disemenator beams that could burn through metal