Disruption units are technology from the Generation 1 continuity family.

Disruption units are devices invented by Perceptor to help Transformers who have been lost in time. The technology behind them is based on a combination of the lost Transformers' energy patterns and an anti-virus program designed by Ratchet. When placed on lost Transformers, most of whom are deactivated and stuck in their vehicle mode, disruption units will allow them to reboot their systems and regain consciousness. A simple button press will then allow them to return to the present.

A disruption unit is roughly the size of a human hand and shaped like the Autobot insignia.

Fiction

G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers

Perceptor quickly built a number of disruption units after Teletran 3 cracked the time stream, throwing several Transformers into different points in Earth's timeline. If they weren't retrieved immediately, the resulting "time feedback" would cause Earth to be destroyed, so four teams of G.I. Joe and Cobra members were given the disruption units and sent through time to save their planet. G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers II #1