The armed footsoldiers of the Trade Federation, these thin droids were the mainstay of the Federation's armed forces. As in other situations that required a show of force, the Trade Federation spared no expense in designing these droids to fight their battles. The Federation's droids were built by Baktoid Combat Automata to resembled the dissicated skeleton of the Geonosians who were contracted to manufacture them. This fearsome shape stood 1.91 meters tall, was plated with white armor, and could carry and operate a wide range of weapons. A backpack mounted to the droid contained much of the droid's sensors and communications gear. They could be deployed in massive numbers by using MTT tanks to bring them to the battle site. The droids were stored in a compact, fetal position in long racks aboard the MTT, and were placed on the battlefield until a Droid Control Ship activated them. If there opponent started to turn back the battle droid force, they were programmed to call in reinforcements, such as destroyer droids.

The Neimoidians placed battle droids in every area of their military, and distinguished their various uses by color. Red-shouldered droids served as security teams, blue-colored battle droids served as pilots, while yellow-shouldered droids were part of the command structure. Plain white droids were infantry and soldiers. At the height of its power, it was rumored that the Trade Federation had no idea exactly how many battle droids were under its command. Although the Trade Federation was ordered to stop production of these droids in the wake of the Battle of Naboo, production continued in secrecy on the planet Geonosis.

Several improvements were made over the next several years, during which time the B1-series served as the design basis for the B2-series Super Battle Droid. The primary updates involved making the B1 Battle Droid more autonomous by eliminating the need for a Droid Control Ship and installing new programming. Up to 200 battle droids could be controlled in the field by a living commander using a specially-programmed datapad. During the height of the Clone Wars, echolocation systems were added to augment the directional sense of the battle droids. Despite the ease with which these droids could be produced and deployed, B1-series battle droids were simple-minded automatons that needed constant input on what they were supposed to do, and intense battle action tended to drain the internal batteries quite rapidly.

It was estimated that the number of battle droids in the Separatist armed forces numbered in the quadrillions, with billions upon billions of other war machines - including Vulture Droids, Tri-Fighter, Hailfire Droids, and other forms of space- and land-based automata - augmenting that number. However, many beings openly questioned this number, since the production facilities of the Confederacy of Independent Systems seemed unable to produce droids in sufficient numbers. Other research indicated that there wasn't enough natural resource in the galaxy to support the production of such a large droid force, further putting these estimates in question.

With the end of the Clone Wars, all B1-series battle droids were issued orders to deactivate, as part of Darth Sidious' plan to consolidate military power and ensure the loyalty of his troops.

Source Abbreviations Listing - E1, E1N, YJC1, IG1, CCG15, TCG1, SWI70, YDR, VD3, OWS, OF, SWI87, RCTC, CWTV32