pit droid

• Appeared in:
  
  I
  II
  III
  IV
  V
  VI
  CW

• Homeworld:
  Cyrillia

• Species:
  Droid

• Size:
  1.19 meters

• Affiliation:
  Podracing

• Type:
  Repair droid

• 

From the Movies

Small bundles of preprogrammed urgency, pit droids always seem eager to enact any and all repairs that must be made, whether requested to or not. On planets were the dangerous and often outlawed sport of Podracing is allowed, pit droids are an integral part of the racing team. It is the versatile pit droid that maintains the massive engines and streamlined cockpits. The droids are just over a meter tall and come in a variety of colors. Capable of lifting many times their own weight, the droids' strength is legendary.

Podracing is extremely dangerous, as is maintaining the speedy vehicles. In the hectic pace of a race, safety comes in second place to winning. As such, the cheap and expendable pit droids often bolt out onto the racetrack to repair still cycling superheated engines with no regard to their personal safety.

When not in use, pit droids fold up into a compact package. They spring to activation when needed. A tap on the nose signals the droid to collapse back into stowed mode and rest.

From the Expanded Universe

The common pit droid, or DUM unit, is mass-produced on the manufacturing planet Cyrillia. Their saucer shaped heads have two antenna used to communicate with other droids. They come with fairly substandard programming, which can be upgraded. Because of their low-grade programming and overzealous work ethics they can cause a considerable amount of damage in a short period of time unless they are supervised.

Disposing of an irreparable pit droid is a delicate operation and often requires disintegration. Due to their immense strength, malfunctioning pit droids are very dangerous. Especially hazardous is a droid with a damaged on/off button. Most pit droid owners keep an ion blaster on hand, just in case, to shut down a damaged droid so it can be repaired later.

Behind the Scenes

In addition to early design sketches for the DUM pit droid, Doug Chiang developed a large saucer-headed scavenger droid that hovered about and moved heavy equipment and damaged Podracers out of the way.