According to author Peter Brown, the inspiration for "The Wild Robot" came from a sketch he did of a robot in a tree. He then asked the question "What would an intelligent robot do in the wilderness?"
The Robot's name is "Rozzum", shortened to "Rozz". The author of the book the movie is based on, Peter Brown, has written that this is a nod to the 1920 science fiction stage play "Rossum's Universal Robots", written by Czech writer Karel Capek. Capek and his brother Josef Capek introduced the word "robot" into the English language (and into science fiction). The word is drawn from the Slavic root, "robot", meaning "labour". The play was also the first use of the word to denote a mechanical humanoid.
The main processor the robots use is designated Alpha - 113. A reference to the room, A113, at the California Institute of the Arts used by graphic design and character animation students, it's also the room where writer/director Chris Sanders, and head of story Heidi Jo Gilbert studied at CalArts. This is the first time that easter egg has been used in an animated film from Dreamworks Animation.
With a 98% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, this movie is tied with How to Train Your Dragon (2010) (also written and directed by Chris Sanders) as the highest rated DreamWorks Animation film.
Thunderbolt the Falcon was not in the novel.