Robot Wars Arena/Series 5-7

The Series 5-7 Robot Wars Set was the fifth and final incarnation of the Robot Wars Arena, designed by Julian Fullalove who had designed the previous arena. Extreme 1 and Series 5, the first series to use this set, was filmed at Elstree Studios, and all subsequent series were filmed at RAF Newton. This arena was similar to the one used in Series 4, but differed in many ways.

General Description
As with the previous arena, the set was a large plywood square surrounded by a wall made from bulletproof glass, which had been heightened form the previous year. The exterior of the arena remained largely the same, save from the balcony, which was replaced by a large central compartment which linked the two booths. The large Robot Wars logo, almost the only surviving remnant of the original arena, was also replaced by a large sliding door with the Robot Wars logo painted onto it. This door was used as an entrance for the House Robots, the two doors on either side were used as competitor entrances.

Battle Arena
The final incarnation of the arena featured few changes to the hazards, but nevertheless there were noticable differences from the Series 4 incarnation by the time the show came to an end.

The fire hazards were cut down for this series, the flamethrowers and flame jets were removed, and even the flame pit was disabled for the recording of Nickelodeon Robot Wars. Overall the flame hazards provided only cosmetic value, but some robots, notably The Spider did break down by straying over the flame pit

The Pit of Oblivion remained very much the centerpiece of the arena, painted yellow and black and lined with red tape. Unlike in previous wars, competitors could activate the pit by pressing the pit release tyre, which was temporarily replaced by a bumper in Series 6. When a robot fell into the pit, a smoke plume would fire.

The Corner Patrol Zones remained in the arena corners, although from Extreme 1 onwards, only two House Robots patrolled the arena. This meant that both House Robots could attack if a robot strayed into a CPZ.

As the series progressed, the floor flipper got gradually more and more powerful, almost to the point where it could throw heavyweights out of the arena, and although it was never done, there were several occasions when it was close. Cosmetically, the flipper remained almost identical from Series 4.

Two new hazards were introduced, the first being the Drop Zone. Originally, this was just a large black panel with a yellow cross in the centre of the arena seen in Series 5 and Extreme 1 that didn't do anything. In Series 6, defeated robots would be placed on this panel, and something would be dropped from above onto the robot. The manner of the object varied from a washing machine to an assortment of balls, from ping pong to bowling.

The other new hazard was the Disc of Doom. This was a spinning hazard first seen in Series 6 that was activated by a button that activate a spinning panel into the floor. This idea was first used in the American TV show BattleBots, with a hazard called the Spinners. The idea was that the robot on the panel would be flung away, interfering with the controls. In practice, the disc rarely was effective, and was removed at the end of Extreme 2.

Arena Perimeter
The Arena perimeter recieved minor tweaks and cosmetic upgrades after Series 4, for example the changing of the backdrop to give off the impression of an abandoned factory, instead of a military submarine.

The balcony area was closed off, save for a small pocket from which Craig Charles would talk to the camera. From this area, competitors would enter and exit their control booths, and leave to the bullpens where robots were loaded, ready for combat. From the pod, Craig Charles would interview competitors post battle, this solved the space issue noticable in Series 4. For Series 6, the booths were fitted with TV screens for the roboteers to get another view of the battle.

Safety continued to be an important part of Robot Wars, and the design of the arena. The crowd were protected by the arena wall, flip out zone, plexiglass case and crowd control barrier. Noticably, the arena wall was damaged a number of times during Series 7, specifically by the falling Hydra and Typhoon 2. This posed a health and safety risk that caused all three battles to be stopped. In the case of Typhoon 2 this is seen as controversial, as it is alleged that Typhoon 2 used damaging the arena as a deliberate tactic to stop the fight.

Changes from the Previous Series

 * The balcony was replaced by a roofed pod.
 * The power of the flipper was improved.
 * Only 2 house robots were used per battle.
 * The Pit Release tyre was introduced.
 * The Drop Zone was introduced.
 * The Disc of Doom was introduced, but removed in Series 6.