DUM-series pit droid

The DUM-series pit droid was a model of repair droid manufactured by Serv-O-Droid, Inc.^[1] which have been in use for about two centuries^[6] by the time of the Invasion of Naboo.^[3] WAC-47 was a pit droid, though he was programmed to be a pilot.^[7]

Characteristics[]

"You know, it's costing me a lot of money to keep these droids even powered up."

―Peli Motto, on her DUM-series pit droids^[8]

Pit droids were cheap, expendable,^[9] and incredibly durable repair droids.^[10] Pit droids stood at a height of 1.19 meters^[9] but had the ability to fold into a compact form when not in use. This feature could be toggled by tapping their "nose."^[3]Pit droids were able to lift objects several times their own weight. They were encased in hardened alloy casings that allowed them to endure the harsh weather on Tatooine.^[11]

Pit droids were programmed with a sense of urgency, though their minimal logic processors prevented them from completing complex tasks. In the Mos Espa Grand Arena, pit droids were mostly used to refuel vehicles, reach tight spaces, and make simple wire connections.^[10]

If one could not reach the system it needed to work on, the unit would get other pit droids to make an unstable and haphazard droid pyramid. Pit droids were also fearless when faced with unsafe tasks, going as far as to be happy to throw themselves into danger.^[12]

History[]

During the Boonta Eve Classic in Mos Espa on Tatooine in 32 BBY,^[13] Ody Mandrell had a record-setting team of pit droids for his podracer. Unfortunately, one of the pit droids was sucked into one of the intakes of Mandrell's podracer. The droid survived, but Mandrell's podracer engine was shot.^[3]

PitDroid-Db — A pit droid inspects a piece of equipment while holding a power wrench

During the Clone Wars, the 91st Mobile Reconnaissance Corps CO, Clone Commander Neyo had a pit droid designated as WAC-47 that served him.^[14] WAC-47 was also a pilot and was chosen to be D-Squad's pilot under Colonel Meebur Gascon.^[5] During the mission, WAC-47 received a field promotion to Corporal.^[15]

WAC-47 later joined the Alliance to Restore the Republic and reunited with R2-D2 during the scourge of the droids.^[16] A number of other pit droids served aboard the Silver Arrow, a vessel in the Rebel Alliance Navy during the Galactic Civil War. The Scourge, however, managed to get aboard the ship and infect all droid units aboard, including the pit droids. The infected droids then murdered all organic crew and later attacked Magna Tolvan's crew.^[4]

After the fall of the Galactic Empire, the manager of Hangar 3-5 at Mos Eisley, Peli Motto, used three pit droids to make repairs on docking ships.^[8]

Behind the scenes[]

Pit droids first appeared in the 1999 film Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace, the first installment of the Star Wars prequel trilogy.^[3]In Canon, the droids were first identified as DUM-series pit droids by the 2015 reference book Ultimate Star Wars.^[11] Art director Doug Chiang created early design sketches of pit droids for The Phantom Menace.^[17] Sound engineer Ben Burtt created their voice with the same principle as R2-D2's Binary, but instead of a musical synthesizer, he used the cute noises of baby toys.^[18]

When it was decided that a droid would be the main character of the Star Wars Galaxy of Creatures animated micro-series, the series' crew originally wanted to use a pit droid. Matt Martin, a member of the Lucasfilm Story Group, didn't like the concept of a droid doing something that it wasn't originally designed to do. As a replacement, the team created the Safari droid, which had features similar to that of a pit droid.^[19]