ArenaThe BattleBox is a 48' x 48' s

Arena

The BattleBox is a 48' x 48' square arena designed to protect the drivers, officials, and audience from flying shrapnel and charging bots. It was originally designed by Pete Lampertson. For the 2015 season, Pete is still overseeing the box with the help of Matt Neubauer. It has a steel floor and steel-framed walls and roof paneled with thick, bulletproof polycarbonate plastic. The teams bring their robots in through doorways, which are sealed after all humans have exited. The drivers control their machines from outside the sealed arena.

Arena hazards are intended to make fights more interesting and unpredictable, and to reward drivers who can avoid the hazards while pushing or carrying their opponent into them. Hazards from the first five seasons include:

Pulverizers: Originally pneumatic powered standard sledgehammers that did minimal damage, the Pulverizers were first upgraded to 50 pound aluminum mallets for season 2, and were again upgraded to 150 pound mallets for season 3 and beyond. The pulverizers were capable of causing serious damage to the lighter weight class robots.
Spike Strips: The lower walls of the arena are lined with inward pointing 6-inch long sharpened steel spikes. Pushing an opponent hard into a wall can sometimes lodge it into the spikes, immobilizing it.
Spinners: Large, rapidly spinning discs embedded in the arena floor, Not intended to damage a robot, but rather to interfere with navigation. The spinners could fling lighter class robots across the arena, but the impact on heavier robots was minimal
Kill Saws: Spinning circular saw blades that rise out of slots in the arena floor under the control of "Pulverizer Pete". These carbide-tipped saw blades can damage a robot's tires or chassis. In later seasons, red 'throwing blades' were added to increase the chance of a bot being thrown across the arena.
Pistons: Introduced in Season 3, the Pistons are steel columns that raise and lower from the floor without warning. They can stop a charging robot or tip a slow moving robot onto its side. The Pistons were removed for Seasons 4 and 5.
Ramrods: Sharpened steel spikes that rise up out of the arena floor in groups of six, serving either to lift a robot off the ground or damage vulnerable portions of the undercarriage.
Hell Raisers: A pneumatic ram can tilt up specific sections of the arena floor. The 15 degree tilt may become a launching ramp, or may abruptly block passage. The Hell Raisers were removed for Season 5 to allow more uncluttered room for the robots.
Screws: Introduced for season 3, these devices were a modification to the static spike strips. The screws were continually rotating augers placed horizontally along the edges of the arena floor. The Screws were intended to scrape up a bot, and possibly drag it closer to the Pulverizers due to the corkscrew design. Much like the Spinners, the Screws had a greater effect on the lighter weight classes—although their impact on all weight classes was small. For Season 5, the screws were upgraded with biting 'teeth' to better catch onto robots. Their rotation was also modified so that instead of 'pushing' in one direction, they converged in a corner from opposite directions and created a 'V' that could damage or turn over robots.