Regeneration unit

The Regeneration unit (also referred to as the Regeneration tank and Regen Disc by Thorne and Starkey respectively) was a maintenance device implanted in robots. Although designed merely to repair minimal damage, such as a faulty wire or a clogged gear, the device had the power to build a brand new robot from the wreckage of the original if such a cataclysm occurred. Critical energy levels were the unit's specialty with backup power being stored in the device so that it could recharge the robot's powercore whenever needed and in certain circumstances even reconstitute a lost accessory with the excess. If a robot was only an inch from death and the regeneration unit did it's work just in time, the robot would be resuscitated of sorts, instilled with a frisky sensation, a lively, energetic feeling as the spark of life brought it's circuits whirring to life. The reconstitution of lost accessories was a result of the default setting, the powercore was replenished and the excess energy rippled through the entire robot, rejuvenating every circuit and switch and reconstituting anything lost. The robot was returned to it's default state and was henceforth as good as new. This renewal process was closely related to the full bodily regeneration but did not work on the same principles, only reviving the robot, not changing it's every nut and bolt for the better. It was built into K9 Mark I with the full bodily regeneration being a dodgy process that scrambled his memdrive. Seeing as at least Mark III was not fitted with a regeneration unit, it is possible he was fitted with one on Gallifrey.

After self-destructing to defeat four Jixen warriors, Starkey retrieved the unit and K9 regenerated into a new body. Following regeneration, K9 remembered his name but couldn't recall additional details of his past; memories of his adventures with the Doctor and Leela, his two former masters, appeared to have been at least temporarily forgotten. (K9TV: Regeneration)

Thorne and Lomax knew of the Regeneration unit and decided to acquire it starting with Thorne's failed plot to cause K9 to regenerate with the use of a suicide bomber. (K9TV: Robot Gladiators) Though they eventually succeeded, Thorne coming to Darius Pike with a proposal, not giving the requested component's name and simply calling it "the cybernetic equivalent of an appendix". He had him try to convince K9 to agree into surrendering the device in return for his missing memory chip, promising Darius in turn that his father Harry Pike of The Last Precinct would be released from his imprisonment if he complied. K9 feared it was a trick, although he couldn't resist the opportunity to discover his lost memories and accepted although it turned out to be a trick. Thorne later gave the unit to an unknown force. (K9TV: Hound of the Korven)

The unit was contained inside the Trojan, a behemoth created by mixing together DNA from aliens encountered by K9. After K9 depleted his energy banks to defeat the Trojan, the absence of his regeneration unit signaled his demise. However it returned to him just in time, recharging his powercore and giving him a new lease on life, reconstituting his original dog collar and all (K9TV: The Eclipse of the Korven)