The Pit

The Pit of Oblivion was a major hazard throughout the majority of Robot Wars, being introduced in the second series. Located in the bottom-left area of the arena, the pit would be used for House Robots to pit immobilised robots, or for other robots to push opponents in, provided it was open.

In the reboot, it remained located in the bottom-left corner, however, it wasn't utilised as much due to the introduction of the Rogue House Robot and the Fog of War.

History
The Pit of Oblivion was introduced in Series 2, being featured in the left and centre routes of the Gauntlet across the series. It was also used in two trials across the series, - Tug of War and Pinball. Following from this, the pit was used in the main arena, and was open for the duration of the match, filled with tyres. A smoke plume was produced when a robot fell in, signifying it's defeat. In Series 3, the pit was open for the first two rounds of the competition (including The First World Championship), and was closed thereafter. Sparks were also produced in this series, rather than smoke.

In the fourth series, the pit was redesigned and was a black-and-yellow striped square with a red border, an appearance that it would retain for future series. For the fourth series only, it would descend after roughly 100 seconds, and a siren would also be heard to announce this. However, the sound effect was added in post-production, meaning roboteers couldn't hear it. Consequently, many self-inflicted immobilisations occurred due to roboteers not noticing the open pit.

From the first series of Extreme, the pit could be opened using a pit release button (UK Series) or a pit release trigger (US Series). In Robot Wars Extreme and Series 5, the button was a yellow tyre, mounted on the wall near the pit. In Series 6, and the remainder of the international series, the pit release was a metal bumper. However, the tyre was returned in the second series of Extreme and continued as a tyre into the seventh series.

For Series 8 onwards, the pit was located in a similar location to the original arena, in the bottom left. However, the pit release tyre was in the top middle of the arena, rather than being mounted on the bottom wall near the pit, and from Series 9 onwards, the odds of the pit descended were lowered, due to Rogue House Robot, and in Series 10, the Fog of War. The pit descended much quicker in the reboot and was larger than in the original arena, as it could fit up to at least eight robots, a notable example being at the end of the 10 Robot Rumble, where all defeated robots except for Terrorhurtz were pitted, either being pushed in, drove in, or were pushed in by the house robots. The interior walls were lined with lights, and warning beeps alerted roboteers to the descent. From the Battle of the Stars onwards, the pit emitted a mist to signify the pit had opened, rather than a plume for when they fell in. In addition, the pit descended automatically, when a defeated competitor was attacked by a house robot after 'cease' was called. In Series 10, the pit fired a plume of smoke when a robot fell in.

Notable Instances
Note: Self-pittings are italicised.

Appearances in Merchandise
The Pit of Oblivion has appeared in most forms of merchandise.
 * Robot Wars: Metal Mayhem
 * Robot Wars: Arenas of Destruction
 * Robot Wars: Advanced Destruction
 * Robot Wars: Extreme Destruction (GBA)
 * Robot Wars: Extreme Destruction (PC/Xbox)
 * Minibot Arena
 * Robot Wars: The Game
 * The pit is also featured in the HEXBUG Robot Wars Arena, but is just visually represented, and doesn't function.

Trivia

 * Despite usually descending in the actual arena, the pit in the minibot arena acted like a trapdoor, with the panels "dropping".
 * The robot to have fallen down the pit the most times was Firestorm, with it falling in 8 times across 5 series.
 * Due to initially not having a pit release, the All-Stars tournament of Extreme 1 only had one battle containing the pit release, this being the Grand Final between Razer and Tornado.