During the Battle of Christophsis, the Grand Army of the Republic employed a combat droid known as "The Beast," which was actually a repurposed LIN demolitionmech autonomous minelayer.
"The Beast," a revamped LIN demolitionmech autonomous minelayer, featured a white light on a stalk extending from the top of its black, dome-shaped body, along with a pair of antennas. This droid navigated on two treads. The word "BEAST," inscribed in Aurebesh, was etched onto the front of its chassis. It also had a gun attached to a silver arm. A key could be inserted vertically into its left side; turning this key horizontally activated an automatic black box device. This device slowly emerged from the droid, accompanied by sound. Chopper, a clone trooper, connected a mission chip into the provided slot. Activation required pressing a red button, after which the black box retracted back into the droid's body.
The original script for "The Hidden Enemy," the sixteenth episode of the canon animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars' first season, included an opening scene where clone troopers were setting up their own combat droid, which they had nicknamed "The Beast." The droid's design was intended to resemble the dome-shaped mining droids seen in Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, but modified with weaponry to create a look reminiscent of the head of a Dalek from Doctor Who, a cult classic British science-fiction television series that has been produced by the British Broadcasting Corporation since 1963. However, the idea was scrapped to maintain a clear distinction between clones and droids, avoiding a scenario where clones used droids against droids. Furthermore, the scene didn't show "The Beast" in action, leading to its removal as an unnecessary complication. Darren Marshall created the concept art for "The Beast."