As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine enters its fourth year, remotely-operated ground robots have become a startlingly common sight on the battlefield.
According to the defense policy think tank, the Jamestown Foundation, Ukraine has turned into a world leader in unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs), allowing the country’s military to coordinate robotic warfare while reducing casualties.
Now, a video making the rounds on social media appears to show three Russian soldiers emerging from a building with their arms raised and surrendering to a robot armed with a machine gun. One of the soldiers appears to be covered in blood, adding to the sense of surreal darkness. A separate drone appears to be trained on the soldiers as well.
According to the Ukrainian military news outlet Militarnyi, the robot was a reconnaissance-strike ground unit dubbed Droid TW, built by Ukrainian defense company DevDroid. The washing machine-sized platform uses AI to autonomously identify targets and can shoot 7.62mm caliber rounds. The robot was developed at the request of the First Medical Battalion of the Ukrainian army, which was seeking a way to evacuate wounded soldiers under heavy fire — but considering the footage, the army may have found a different use for it as well.
The Jamestown Foundation noted that Ukrainian UVGs are “increasingly replacing infantry in high-risk missions, providing sustained firepower, engineering support, and resilience against electronic warfare, terrain challenges, and prolonged deployments.”
The country has had to seriously step up its game, with 40 Ukrainian defense companies producing 99 percent of UGVs domestically. As The Economist reported last year, there are around 200 different models of these robots, ranging from AI-enabled anti-drone laser guns to ground-based machine-gun platforms.
Other robots can lay down anti-tank mines, transport tons of materials for infantry on the front lines, or provide cover from the air under heavy artillery to exfiltrate injured soldiers. Some are outfitted with dozens of pounds of explosives to self-destruct near fortifications or bridges.
Ukraine is also getting a hand from Western defense companies, like German firm ARX Robotics, which is manufacturing a fleet of small tank-like UGVs.
Apart from videos of Russian soldiers surrendering, we’ve seen footage of UGVs engaging Russian armored personnel carriers. We’ve also seen other buggy-sized “Droid” UGVs, built by DevDroid, fighting with Russian infantry.
In short, the frontlines of the Russia-Ukraine war are a weird laboratory for modern warfare, which, against all odds, has given Ukraine a considerable tactical edge over its much larger adversary.
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