Robot Wars Arena

The Robot Wars Arena was a large rectangular area within the Robot Wars television studio which was used to host robot battles. The arena was approximately 32 feet by 48 feet and was enclosed in a huge clear plastic box 20 feet high. There were assorted hazards in the arena that changed from one series the next.

Pit of Oblivion
The Pit of Oblivion was a four-foot square hole in the arena floor into which a robot might fall or be pushed. It could be considered the "signature" feature of the arena over the series. Debuting in Series 2, originally this hole was open constantly during the gauntlet and from the heat final onwards, and was just a plain black hole in the arena filed with old tyres. In the third series, it was open during the first two rounds of a heat and then closed throughout the heat final and all subsequent rounds. In the fourth series, it was completely redesigned and was now a square panel with black and yellow diagonal stripes on it and a red line around the perimeter. The pit would now be in the closed position at the start of a battle, allowing robots to drive over it. It would open (the panel would descend) after a certain amount of time during the battle, heralded by a siren. From the first Robot Wars Extreme onwards, there was a tyre in the arena that competitors could hit to open the pit. In the sixth series, the tyre was replaced with a metal bumper but the tyre returned in the seventh series. Occasionally robots travelling at high speed would knock the tyre off the wall. When a robot fell into the pit, a large amount of smoke would ascend from within as the robot fell.

Three robots escaped from the pit, although none of them were proper escapes. Stinger escaped during the Series 4 pinball, but the pit wasn't completely open. Combat Ant was flipped out of the antweight pit by Hades, who was also in the pit. Probophobia came closest, actually using its arms to grip the arena floor and climb out in its challenge belt challenge against Tut Tut, but cease had been called so it didn't count.

Floor Flipper
The Floor Flipper was a powerful pneumatic flipper that could toss a robot across the arena. It was used as a form of punishment when a robot had been immobilised. This device was introduced in the third series, where it just looked like a part of the arena floor. In the fourth series, it was redesigned and its appearance resembled the pit. The flipper was usually only used to flip immobilised robots, the exception coming in the House Robot Rebellion of Extreme 1, where it threw Plunderbird across the arena when the robot simply drove over it.

Disc of Doom
The Disc of Doom was a spinning panel set into the arena floor activated by a button similar to the pit release. The button changed to a tyre like the pit button in Series 5 & 7. It appeared in the sixth series but did not appear in the seventh series.

Drop Zone
The Drop Zone was a spot on the arena floor where heavy objects such as television sets, ocean buoys, bowling balls, refrigerators and washing machines fell from the top of the arena. These objects were dropped onto robots that had been immobilised. It first appeared in the sixth series; although the spot where the object would fall (a black square with a yellow 'X' shape across it) first appeared in the first Robot Wars Extreme, not serving any clear purpose at the time.

Perimeter Patrol Zone
The Perimeter Patrol Zone or PPZ was a narrow band around the perimeter of the arena where competitor robots were open to attack by two house robots. The PPZ appeared in the first and second series, and was later replaced with the Corner Patrol Zones.

Corner Patrol Zones


The Corner Patrol Zones (or CPZs) are the yellow and black striped areas in the four corners of the Robot Wars Arena. It is in these zones that the House Robots dwell. If a competing robot enters one of these zones, the House Robot is allowed to deal with them as they will. If a robot becomes immobilized, however, the House Robots are allowed to leave their zones and finish off the competitor, otherwise they will be given a yellow card by Refbot for leaving once, and then a red card for leaving twice.

The CPZs appeared from the third series onwards, having replaced the Perimeter Patrol Zone from the first two series. The house robots appeared in a rotation system between Shunt, Matilda, Sgt. Bash and Dead Metal with Sir Killalot appearing in every round. From the first Robot Wars Extreme onwards, only two house robots were allowed in the arena at a time and this moved in a rotation system between all of the machines.

Entering a Corner Patrol Zone will cost points for 'control' when the match goes to the judges.

During Series 2 Perimeter Patrol Zones (or PPZs) were used instead. The only difference being that they went round the entire perimeter of the Arena, as the name suggests.

Flame Jets
The arena contained several flame jets which shot a nasty rally of flames at nearby robots. These were later replaced by 350mm Chop Saws. They have been known to attack House Robots.

Flame Grills
The Flame Grill in the area caused the most trouble with flammable robots. The Grill let out more fire than the flame jets and were useful for pushing robots onto and melting the circuits.

CO2 Geysers
These spouts shot a CO2 mist upwards which can block the view of the robots from the balcony where the roboteers stand and were actually found useful for putting out fires.

Early Hazards
Early hazards included spikes that came up from the ground (removed in the fourth series after many upsets were caused by these flipping and immobilising robots that were on top in their battles), arena sidebars and grilles that could immobilise robots crossing them, and hanging spike balls that were more atmospheric than damaging, although Nemesis brushed one in its Gauntlet run of Series 1.