Despite attempts to hire someone to serve in this capacity, the Fantastic Four found that few secretaries were willing to do so. In response, Reed Richards built a robot to fulfill this particular need.
Only the upper half of Roberta is actually human appearing and early models had her attached to her receptionist desk at the Baxter Building. Later models however bestowed upon her mobility for increased efficiency.
The Trapster once attempted to use Roberta as a hostage, unaware of the artificial nature of his hostage and was subdued by Roberta herself.
In more recent years, a old robot Elektro who once terrorized mankind was rebooted by Reed Richards who had him reprogrammed. Elektro was subsequently trained by Willie Lumpkin to serve as a mailman in the Baxter Building itself and was employed by the Fantastic Four. Elektro developed a crush on Roberta and the two have since begun dating.