Lab Assistant

Lab Assistants are Dr. Neo Cortex's henchmen that Crash Bandicoot encounters throughout the Crash Bandicoot series. The Lab Assistants are used as minions to try and stop Crash from foiling Cortex's plans. The Lab Assistants appear throughout the Crash Bandicoot series disguised in different outfits and costumes that usually correspond with the theme of a level. They also have their own methods of attacking Crash depending on their disguise. The most prominent feature of the Lab Assistants are their glasses lens, which appear on all forms of Lab Assistants that Crash may encounter in the game.

Later in Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped, a secret room in the central hub displays how the Lab Assistants are mass produced and sent into different worlds. This suggests that the Lab Assistants all along were robots created by Cortex to serve as henchmen. When Crash destroys Cortex's time traveling machine though, Cortex lost a line of his production of Lab Assistants. However, in Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex, Cortex is seen again with more Lab Assistants, implying that Cortex may have more than one way of creating Lab Assistants.

Crash Bandicoot
The Lab Assistants were seen in the original Crash Bandicoot, where they are seen taking Tawna hostage. They served as henchmen for Dr. Cortex during the game. The Lab Assistants are found later on certain levels in the third islands. They use different types of chemicals and electricity to attack Crash in these levels.

Roles
Crash Bandicoot features the least variety of Lab Assistants in the series, with them making an appearance only in the third island of the game. Aside from the Lab Assistants that hold Tawna captive in the introduction, only two forms of Lab Assistants appear in the game.


 * Beaker Tossing Lab Assistants - In the level Slippery Climb and The Lab, (as well as the deleted level Stormy Ascent) there will be various Lab Assistants that toss chemical beakers in Crash's direction. Crash can avoid the beakers by standing clear of the path of the beakers landing spot. Crash can defeat this Lab Assistant by simply spinning him away when he is not tossing a beaker.
 * Electric Barrier Lab Assistants - These Lab Assistants appear in the last level of the game, The Lab. They will usually stand near the edge of the path, and create an electrical barrier in front of Crash. If Crash touches the electricity, he will get shocked and either lose his Aku Aku mask, or lose a life as a result of the electricity. Every few seconds the Lab Assistants will lower their electric barrier. This gives Crash a chance to spin them back towards the edge, where they can only be defeated by being knocked over it.

Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back
The Lab Assistants return in Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back as henchmen for Cortex once again. In this game, the Lab Assistants play a larger role as an adversary that Crash must try to overcome. The Lab Assistants in this game are more specialized than they were in the original game. In this game, they perform different jobs throughout the game including working in sewers and in space.

Roles
The Lab Assistants make more frequent appearances in this game, and take on more specialized roles than the previous Crash Bandicoot game.


 * Crate Lifting Lab Assistants - In the Polar levels of Cortex Strikes Back, Crash will encounter a pair of Lab Assistants lifting and dropping heavy metal crates. Crash must judge when the Lab Assistants will lift or drop the crates because he must either jump over the crates or run under them depending on the position of the crates. These Lab Assistants cannot be defeated.
 * Sledge Hammer Lab Assistants - These types of Lab Assistants appear in Diggin' It and Bee-having. They are dressed as farmers and carry a big sledge hammer. Their main form of attack is trying to pound Crash with their large sledge hammers. They are more dangerous when Crash is hiding in the soil, because their sledge hammers have the ability to harm Crash regardless of him hiding in the sol.
 * Sewer Workers - In the Sewer levels of this game, these Lab Assistants can be found working on the ceiling. They are carrying a welder and will aim their welder towards the ground every few seconds. Crash must try and avoid these assistants while they are welding towards the ground. He can spin them away though when they go back to work on the ceiling.
 * Space Lab Assistants - In Rock It and Pack Attack, these Lab Assistants will create electric barriers that will electrocute Crash if he flies into one of them. They can be defeated when their electric current is down.
 * Hunter Lab Assistants - These Lab Assistants only appear in a secret area of Unbearable and Bee-having. They will fire bullets towards the left side of the screen in a linear path. Crash can avoid these bullets by predicting their path of travel.
 * Barricading Lab Assistants - These Lab Assistants are found in Piston It Away. They carry a large door-type object and shove it towards Crash when he gets near them. Crash can spin them towards an abyss, where they will fall down and scream VERY loudly in a high pitched voice. Like this, "YAHHHHHHHHH!"

Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped
The Lab Assistants return yet again in Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped as Cortex henchmen yet again. The Lab Assistants play even a larger role than the past games, and now coincide with theme of each level. It is revealed in Warped that the Lab Assistants are mass drones mass produced by Cortex's time machine, and are warped all over the world due to a teleporter. The player can visit this room once they earn five Sapphire Relics.

Roles
The Lab Assistants play even a larger role in Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped, where they appear in almost every level in the game. Their role in each level usually fits the theme of each level as well.


 * Wizard Lab Assistants - These Lab Assistants appear in the Medieval-themed levels, and attack Crash by sending magic spells towards his direction. Crash can avoid these magic spells by running in different directions around them. If a magic spell does hit Crash, he will turn into a frog.
 * Knight Lab Assistants - In the Medieval-themed levels, Crash will come across Lab Assistants trying to pull a sword out of the ground. Every few seconds the Lab Assistants will manage to pull the sword out and swing it around in a circle. While swinging the sword, Crash is liable to take damage from the sword. He can spin the knights away when they are trying to pull their swords out.
 * Prince Lab Assistants - When Crash is attacked by a frog with no Aku Aku mask, the frogs will kiss him and reveal themselves to be Lab Assistants disguised as Princes.

Post-Naughty Dog era
After Naughty Dog, the robots seemed to have more and more appearances, such as various ones seen in The Wrath Of Cortex (with the "Afro Assistant" even being shown in the game's credits), as well as many ones appearing in the first two Vicarious Visions GBA titles.

Crash Nitro Kart(cameo)
Statues of Lab assistants are seen on the track Tiny Temple.

Crash Boom Bang!(cameo)
Lab assistants host some mini-games.

Jobs for Lab assistants in Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex

 * Blocking Crash's way dressed as a knight
 * Dressing up as a wizard
 * Dressing up as a royal servant while blocking Crash's way
 * Throwing potions at Crash
 * Spewing toxic acid at Crash
 * Shooting a harpoon gun at Crash
 * Blocking Crash's way in a diving suit
 * Dressing up as a ninja
 * Dressing as a wagon carrier intending to run into Coco
 * Drives a Car intendind to run over Coco
 * Shoots a laser at Crash
 * Dancing with Crash in Credits
 * Banging Gongs with beaters.

Trivia

 * The fact that there are so many variants of Lab Assistants makes them similar to Nintendo's Shy Guys, which also have the most variants of Nintendo enemies.
 * There was supposed to be a "Prehistoric" Lab Assistant riding the Triceratops in Warped, but it was later scrapped.
 * Although they were revealed to be androids in Warped, a hint was given out in the two levels of Crash Bandicoot 2, Rock It and Pack Attack, as there was a bit of the assistant's face replaced with metal.