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Throughout both runs of Robot Wars, there have been many instances of a robot being thrown out of the arena. It occurs when a robot is thrown over the Robot Wars Arena walls, into the space between the wall and the outer enclosure, and can no longer take part in the battle. This area had no formal name in the original series, but in the reboot, it is referred to as the Trenches.

This tactic was first demonstrated in the Series 3 Grand Final, where it was immediately acknowledged as a legitimate method of defeating opponents via knockout, alongside pitting or immobilising them. Though primarily a goal of flipping weapons, some lifting weapons and even vertical flywheels have had success defeating opponents in this way.

Flipping a robot out of the arena is the quickest way to defeat an opponent, as it can be done in very short order without delays such as charging a spinning weapon or waiting for the pit to descend. Of the 30 Shortest Battles in UK Robot Wars, thirteen were concluded by a robot being thrown out of the arena, four of those being the fastest, at 5.6, 5.8, 6.5 and 9.7 seconds respectively.

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