The Trade Federation Droideka or Destroyer Droid as it is commonly known in many parts of the Galaxy has no manipulatory appendages (hands) as it only serves one function, the destruction of enemy threats. These three-legged droids are essentially mobile weapon platforms and in combat they attack mercilessly. Equipped with a wide variety of sensors and scanners to track their quarry, their primary programming states only one thing, destroy the assigned targets. Droidekas can be found aboard Trade Federation starships or fighting along side Trade Federation Battle Droids.

    Although the Trade Federation army heavily relies on Battle Droids, high-ranking Trade Federation officials also realized the importance of a more serious threat and so the Colicoids of Colla IV were commissioned to build the droid. The resulting droid was exactly what concerned Trade Federation officers desired, which was a powerful droid capable of being heavy-duty killing machine that could back up the lightly built Battle Droids against a determined foe. The Destroyer Droids manufactured for the Trade Federation were built to receive all commands from the Central Control Computer. However, the Colicoids felt that this limited the droid's effectiveness. Thus, they produced a small number of Destroyer Droids with programmable computer brains.

    The Colicoid engineers fashioned the Droidekas in their own species image, as like the Droidekas, Colicoids are capable of rolling into tight, round balls. The Colicoids use this ability to surprise their prey by rising up suddenly to attack. The Droideka achieves its movement as a "wheel" through a combination of momentum and repulsor effects. Using pulsed internal micro-repulsors in sequence allows Droidekas to transverse to a given location. Only in a matter of seconds, the Droideka can transform from the "wheel" into its standing position, being ready to attack (as an added effect, the transformation can take unwary foes by surprise, just like the Colicoids intended). Other advantages of using the "wheel form" for other than optimum travel speed, include the compact storage of the droid and presenting a smaller and faster target to enemy weapons fire.

    Facing the Droideka from the forward section provides a minimal silhouette and a frightening sight for enemies who survived long enough to return fire. The Droideka's aft armour is extremely effective and its moving legs and weapon arms are difficult to hit from behind by enemies who are desperate in attempting to take the Droideka out of action. This fearsome sight with little effort is capable of taking out enemy troops by the dozen. Although the personal shield of the Droideka makes it nearly invincible in the field of combat, it can only deploy its personal deflector shield when it is stationary (not moving). Thus, it must drop its shield when the droid chooses to move.

    The Droideka's powerful (and high-energy) twin laser cannons, its strong personal shield, its power intensive movement system and all of its other systems are powered by a mini-reactor. The two flaps on either side of the "hips" of the Droideka that project outward when it is in its combat stance are the deflector shield projector flaps. The backshell plate on the Droideka not only serves as the primary rolling surface and protection for its weapons while rolling towards enemy troops, the "fork" of the armour serves as reactor cooling vanes. The Droidekas also come equipped with pointed foot claws which are designed for use on hard surfaces.