Even when customers aren’t around the shop, there’s always some type of commotion. At times, it’s a Chinese robot known as the “drunk robot” that waddles around, falls down and always finds a way to get back up. Other times, colorful, remote-controlled HexBugs shaped like lobsters and spiders crawl around. And when things get wild, it’s usually FemiSapien, a female robot searching for a dance partner to join her one-of-a-kind moves.

Although all these robots look different and have a mind of their own, literally,  they all hang out in the same place waiting to be taken to a new home.

The only all-robot store in the country, RobotCity Workshop, 3226 N. Sheffield Ave., opened in December 2008 hoping to give robot fanatics a new home to buy, play and build all things robotic.

If there was an ideal environment for robots, this would be the place. Black walls are highlighted by the solar system being taken over by UFOs. Shelves filled with hundreds of robots, encompassing every color in the rainbow, take over the shop as they interact with customers and each other. Not even the floor goes unoccupied. While one robot shoots out foam discs from its head, a bright yellow one vacuums the floor.

Pedestrians don’t need a sign to tell what kind of shop this is. The many robots in the window display—like Wall-E hanging out with an older robot, Sir Galaxy—is enough to show what’s found inside.

The idea for a place like RobotCity came from owner Greg Gilla. While he was growing up, instead of playing basketball or baseball with his friends, he would spend his spare time taking apart and putting back together his TV set and other appliances. Eventually, he started making his own robots.

RobotCity Workshop is his first business, and although he doesn’t have prior retail experience, his passion for robots and collecting them has been enough thus far.

“There weren’t any shops like [this], and I felt it was time that someone put something like this together because they have hobby shops and they have art stores, but some people like working with technology almost as an art form,” Gilla said. “And robotics combines all the elements of that.”

Gilla receives new merchandise once a month to keep customers coming back. Although all the robots serve a specific function, one of the most popular is from the Star Wars movies: an R2-D2 interactive robot that runs for $225. R2-D2 can speak, respond to voice commands, navigate through a room and has its own personality. It also plays and sings songs and dialogues from the actual Star Wars movies.

Prices for the robots can range from a $2 dancing key chain robot to a $300 super duty pet version of the iRobot Roomba, which picks up pet hair. Another popular one is the Rovio mobile webcam, which is a remote control robot that works as a spy camera and projects to a TV.

During the week, when Gilla works installing and fixing appliances for customers in the suburbs, Matthew Rogoski is one of two other employees who take over. Rogoski came across a posting on Craigslist.com and got the job without knowing much about robots.

After a couple of months working at the store, he now helps with workshops where customers can pay to learn how to create their own robots. The cover for the workshop ranges, based on the skill level of each customer. While some kids participate and use easier kits, other workshops are more advanced and time consuming, needing soldering kits and circuit boards to program the robots.

There is no regular schedule for the workshops because they work around customers’ schedules.

“I’ve always liked robots, but I’ve never actually known the electrical and mechanical aspects of them,” Rogoski said. “I’m still getting more into it. It’s really interesting learning how to build your own robots and programming your own robots.”

Other robot-themed items include T-shirts,  build-it-yourself robots, electronic supplies, magazines, movies and soldering kits. Soldering is a necessary step when building a circuit board. It heats up and melts the electronic parts onto the circuit board, then instantly cools it down.

Rogoski said while some robots can take days or weeks to build, others only take hours. Because the shop is still fairly new, he said they have a plan to catch more customers’ attention.

“We want to build a big, stainless steel robot to be up front and welcome people to walk in, or we would like to bolt it into the sidewalk near Belmont, but we don’t know if we can get a permit for it,” Rogoski said.

Two of the oldest robots found at RobotCity are the Omnibot 2000 robot and Sir Galaxy—both phenomenons in the ’80s. The Omnibot was created to help ease chores around the house by carrying trays and cups around. Newer robots are more interactive, and Omnibot is now more of a classic.

When Omnibot was popular, the built-in cassette player would record and playback commands, and a built-in digital clock and alarm would be used to program its different tasks.

In order to spread the word about robots and reach out to the community, RobotCity Workshop has partnered with Bots4Tots, a new program planned to launch in the summer.

The idea for Bots4Tots came from founders Don Thacker and Alexis Nordling. The program has a website, Bots4Tots.org, where people can donate $25 and pay for a child in need to participate in a robot workshop.

Their first collaboration, coming in May, is with 826National, a nonprofit that tutors kids.

“Don came up with the idea in 2007,” Nordling said. “After the Transformers movie came out, he wanted to get Transformers and drop them off at Toys for Tots. He wanted to encourage other kids to get interested in robotics, and for him, it started with Transformers.”

After that idea sparked, they soon thought of buying robot kits for kids. While struggling to find how to teach the classes and have a location at which to teach them, they met Gilla. He volunteered his space and his knowledge of robots. With Gilla’s help, the price of a workshop went from $75 to $25.

“RobotCity Workshop is going to be our farm here in Chicago,” Nordling said. “We’re already getting so many responses from people all over the nation.”

Plans to open another location are still uncertain. One thing Gilla does know is that robots are only getting more interesting and smarter. He’s taking things as they come, and for now he’s wondering what to do with a new stock of giant PEZ dispensers.

For more information, visit RobotCityWorkshop.com.