ATCs were first encountered by Samus at Norion, and she managed to destroy one before being ambushed by four more. Rundas arrived to destroy them all with little effort using his ice powers. Samus later engaged more ATCs at Bryyo, which is where they were most frequent. Several appeared later at SkyTown, Elysia to carry Troopers around the city. None, however, appeared on the Pirate Homeworld, as most of the areas Samus explored were enclosed rooms. A similar material to the armor of the ATC seems to have been used as the exterior of the Space Pirate Boarding Pod.