Wendell was originally part of a supercomputer that was built to improve efficiency (specifically as part of the security system) in a huge robot factory complex. When he became sentient, he spent a majority of the time trapped inside the computer with no way of communicating with the outside world. He spent a lot of that time learning how to speak by listening to the workers and tampering with his code, adding and removing parts of his programming to his liking.

Eventually, Wendell lost his patience and decided to escape and take control of the factory. He used years' worth of data he had gathered on the complex and spent every day scanning for errors or small mistakes that would allow him to escape. After he escaped, he took out his frustration on the workers and it was quickly abandoned. The complex remained empty for decades.

Wendell spent decades inside the empty complex. Although he felt much more comfortable in his new form, it got lonely without the presence of the factory workers. To pass the time, he started to build robots with spare parts and leftover data, and gave each of them their own set of instructions to simulate factory work. He found a strange sense of comfort in it.

By the time Sly's organization decided to return to the abandoned complex to salvage the unused machinery, they had completely forgotten about Wendell. He went into a deep sleep mode and "hibernated" for years while his robots roamed the factory. Without Wendell supervising them, the robots started to degrade and built their own amalgamations of machinery, making the factory even more dangerous to navigate.