Robot wars: Ukraine now adding 鈥榣and drones鈥� to its futuristic arsenal
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Howard LaFranchi Staff writer
| Kharkiv region, Ukraine
Located down a dirt road that traverses spring-green fields, the white-washed, blue-shuttered farmhouse looks like any other in this eastern region of Ukraine bordering Russia.
On the outside, the scene could be a quaint depiction of 19th-century farm life: Flowering pear trees partly obscure the house and its outbuildings surrounding a small courtyard. Cows can be heard next door.
But step inside the old farmhouse or one of the barns, and it鈥檚 21st-century warfare in the making.
Why We Wrote This
The Ukraine war has transformed the battlefield. First, it was aerial drones. Now, ground robots are being developed and deployed for reconnaissance, deliveries, evacuations, and handling mines. The goal: to help Ukraine stand up to its larger Russian enemy.
Scruffy-bearded young men in flannel shirts test the connections between handheld controllers and vehicles in a variety of shapes and sizes. Computer screens display small vehicles moving across an obstacle-strewn battlefield. In one barn, a man inspects autonomous vehicles ranging in size from an average lawnmower to a large wagon.
Welcome to Ukraine鈥檚 war-inspired robot revolution.
UGVs to do foot soldiers鈥� work
Russia鈥檚 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, now in its fifth year, has been the arena both for astounding expansion of the role of drones in war and for accelerating technological advances in adapting aerial drones 鈥� also called unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs 鈥� to battlefield uses.
Now, a similar process is unfolding involving robots 鈥� or 鈥渓and drones,鈥� as Ukrainians prefer to call them. Unmanned ground vehicles, or UGVs, are being developed and deployed on the front lines to carry out tasks traditionally handled by foot soldiers.
From providing reconnaissance and delivering supplies to firing small arms, evacuating the wounded, and mining and demining, robots are doing it, or soon will be.
Speaking to weapons manufacturers on Ukraine鈥檚 Arms Makers鈥� Day in April, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine, for the first time, had captured an unspecified Russian position 鈥渦sing exclusively unmanned platforms,鈥� both aerial drones and robots. 鈥淭he future is here, on the battlefield,鈥� he said, 鈥渁nd Ukraine is creating it.鈥�
鈥淲hen this war started, most people were still thinking of aerial drones as 鈥榳edding drones鈥� that go up and take videos for the people getting married,鈥� says Vitaly, director of the 10th Army Corps鈥� robot operation school, which occupies the blossom-cloaked farmhouse. He and others interviewed for this story only gave their first names because of security concerns.
鈥淲ith land drones, it鈥檚 the same,鈥� he adds. 鈥淲hat started as toys and a hobby for soldiers [is] now quickly being adapted to battlefield uses.鈥�
Vitaly 鈥� who in recognition of Ukraine鈥檚 legendary defenders uses the call sign 鈥淐ossack,鈥� and sports the Cossack haircut of a shaved head save for a long, blond ponytail 鈥� says that, like drones, robots are being developed and deployed to level the playing field with Russia.
The objective: compensate as much as possible for Ukraine鈥檚 deficits and disadvantages in relation to Russia, which has a far greater population and one of the largest standing armies in the world.
Sparing lives on the battlefield
鈥淲e need to develop robots to perform as many of the tasks a soldier normally would handle as possible,鈥� Vitaly says. 鈥淭here will always be a need for infantry, so we need to develop ways to support and protect the infantry, and robots can help us do that.鈥�
Indeed, sparing lives on the battlefield and making the day-to-day lives of soldiers on the front lines safer and less encumbered is a key objective of Brave1, a Ukrainian government wartime initiative. The collaborative platform aims to accelerate the development of a world-class defense tech industry by supporting defense-focused startups and innovation.
鈥淲e help our government find the small startups and producers who are responding to the needs of our guys on the front lines, and then funnel contracts to them to deliver the products that can make our soldiers鈥� lives better,鈥� says Ihor Shmyryov, head of the UGV Department at Brave1. 鈥淥ur purpose is the fast-tracking of innovation to the front line,鈥� he adds, 鈥渨ith the highest goal of this effort being the saving of lives.鈥�
When created in 2023, Brave1 initially focused on UAV innovation and production. But by this year, UGV development had jumped to almost 40 percent of the grants the initiative awarded.
鈥淣ow, almost every day, I receive some new proposal for the application of UGV technology on the ground,鈥� Mr. Shmyryov says, noting that already some 270 manufacturers of various sizes are producing 550 UGV models 鈥� and counting.
Calling himself a go-between connecting what front-line soldiers are learning with Ukraine鈥檚 growing defense tech industry, Mr. Shmyryov offers an example of how robots have answered a call from on the ground.
鈥淎 close friend serving in the war before the full-scale invasion told me it would be great to have something that could carry the hundreds of pounds of equipment he was regularly carrying on his back,鈥� he says. 鈥淣ow, we have robots that can deliver all the gear to positions,鈥� he adds. 鈥淚t鈥檚 one way to lighten the hard work the soldiers do so they can work smarter.鈥�
Currently, about 90% of the tasks robots are undertaking in the war are in logistics, though the use of UGVs for reconnaissance missions that might stump UAVs 鈥� for example, in areas of heavy tree cover 鈥� is growing rapidly.
Robots instead of 鈥渇arm boys鈥�
Still, the overriding goal of UGV innovation is 鈥渞educing the risks our soldiers face and saving lives,鈥� Mr. Shmyryov says.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 have the farm boys to send out in waves against enemy fire or to demine a field with their bodies the way our enemy does, and we don鈥檛 want to,鈥� he says. 鈥淲hat our use of robots in this war tells the world, I think, is that we care about our people.鈥�
That same philosophy permeates the work at Ratel Robotics in Kyiv.
鈥淲e produce five types of UGV drones that can be configured to carry out all kinds of tasks,鈥� says Taras Ostapchuk, the company鈥檚 chief executive. 鈥淏ut to me, nothing is more important than the ability to save lives.鈥�
Standing amid five shot-up wagon-like robots in Ratel鈥檚 repair shop, the war veteran says each robot was capable of the logistical work of two soldiers.
鈥淭hat means that when these robots came under fire, maybe we saved 10 lives,鈥� Mr. Ostapchuk says. 鈥淎nd we can fix up these robots and send them right back out to the front line.鈥�
Ratel (honey badger) was founded in late 2023, initially focused on UAVs. Now, the company has 400 employees 鈥� 25 of whom are veterans 鈥� producing about 4,000 UGVs annually.
Models are produced that can drop a bomb in enemy trenches, mine or demine a field, deliver supplies, and evacuate the wounded (a large iron-plated box protects the evacuee from aerial drone fire). Some are operated by radio, others with Starlink, the satellite internet service. Some have infrared night-vision capabilities.
Next year, Ratel plans to expand into turret-mounted robots for firing machine guns.
European (and Russian) interest
Some European manufacturers have expressed an interest in gaining access to Ukrainian UGV technology through joint ventures, Mr. Ostapchuk says, but perhaps the highest praise for Ratel鈥檚 robots has come from the Russian side.
鈥淲e know the enemy has captured our UGVs; we assume to study them and try to replicate them,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 one more indication of how our products are viewed.鈥�
Back at the 10th Army Corps鈥� robot school, Vitaly and his team are preparing for the next class of 15 students 鈥� many of whom will be soldiers coming from the front lines. They鈥檒l spend the day learning the technology and uses of robots, their operation from a computer screen or from a handheld controller out in the field, before returning to their units each night.
鈥淭he advantage for us is that we maintain close contact with what鈥檚 happening on the ground and how the battlefield is evolving,鈥� says Danilov, the school鈥檚 director of curriculum. 鈥淚t gives us a window into how our robots might be adapted to take on more tasks and make conditions better and safer for our soldiers.鈥�
Oleksandr Naselenko supported reporting for this article.
