Function

Some Cybertronians are just better suited to certain jobs. Whether as a factor of their design, armament, and integrated equipment, or simply a love of certain activities, many Transformers settle into fairly stable combat or civilian roles within Cybertron (planet)'s social strata. Certainly there are trends, with the Decepticons favoring militaristic functions and Autobots often better suited to civil works and research, there are no hard and fast functions forced upon Cybertronians. Oftentimes an otherwise gruff death-dealing Decepticon will indulge in whimsy and even... art.

Fiction

Transformers Animated

The crew of the Ark are quite expressly not outfitted for combat functions. A group of misfits and washouts, most are simple repairbots, accompanied by the medibot Ratchet and the former Autobot Academy student Optimus Prime. This leaves them at a significant disadvantage facing the heavier-armed combat configured chassis of the Decepticons serving under Megatron.

From Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki, a Wikia wiki.