Handbot

Handbots were alien robots designed to aid people with the plague Chen-7.

They administered medicine, which was deadly to anyone non-Apalapucian. The Handbots had no face but a blank head. They used their hands as sensors in order to see their enviroment. If their hand touched a person, they would fall into an instant sleep. In times of defence, their heads came apart to reveal a gun which fired an anaesthetic needle. When someone spoke to them, they choose whether the statement would be accepted or rejected, with the green and red buttons on their chest showing the result. The chest would, then, drop down to reveal a syringe that is used to administer the medicine. (DW: The Girl Who Waited)

Behind the scenes

 * Writer Tom MacRae has said that one of the scariest Doctor Who moments for him personally, was a scene in Terror of the Vervoids where Vervoids attack a man using deadly seed pods delivered from their hands. He speculated that the idea of hands being frightening may have subconsciously inclined him to create the Handbots.