Latest news with #UGVs
The Verge
10-07-2025
- Automotive
- The Verge
Robot coyotes are protecting the Blue Angels from airport pests.
Posted Jul 10, 2025 at 1:33 PM UTC Robot coyotes are protecting the Blue Angels from airport pests. Built atop a 20 mph Traxxas RC car, the UGVs are upgraded with plastic coyotes to make them more intimidating and cost around $3,000 each, according to New Atlas . Testing is still under way, including at the Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida where the Blue Angels call home.
Mint
27-06-2025
- Politics
- Mint
Ukraine is inching towards robot-on-robot fighting
A brutalist complex somewhere in Kyiv, strewn with rubbish and weeds, offers a vision for Ukraine's survival on the future battlefield. At one end is a recruitment office, where lines of 20-somethings are receiving their first orders. At another sit trenches, obstacle courses, and the 3rd Assault brigade's 'Kill House", a training ground for military robots. This is where the elite brigade is stress-testing the unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) Ukraine hopes will soon begin to carry the burden of war in place of men. UGVs are already rolling around the front lines, with the 3rd Assault Brigade among the pioneers. They have not yet appeared in large numbers, though that moment may be near. In spring Ukraine announced plans to deploy 15,000 ground robots. Some key players predict that the face of the battlefield will rapidly change this summer, likening the proliferation of UGVs to the explosion in aerial-drone manufacturing in 2023. 'We don't have the men to counteract Russia's meat-wave," says one manufacturer. 'So we'll send our own zombies against theirs." There are currently about 40 mostly private Ukrainian firms producing some 200 UGV models. They fall into three tribes: logistics (petrol, water, evacuation); engineering support (mine-laying, mine-sweeping, communications); and, to a lesser extent, combat-support roles (platforms with grenade launchers, drone-hunting turrets). Most UGVs are beefed up before being deployed to front-line roles, with brigades typically adding cameras, extra comms or electronic-warfare protection. The war's widening 'grey zone"—10km of ground either side of the contact line, watched and punished by drones—is spurring demand for the most robust robots that let men stay underground. 'Stark", who runs the Kill House's 'UGV Academy"—a university for ground robots—says machines are already substituting for squads of soldiers in particular scenarios. Mule drones can transport tonnes of materiel to the lines. New evacuation drones like the Ardal can spare stretcher teams from becoming sitting ducks under drone-heavy skies. The latest mine-layers can lay dozens of anti-tank mines in a single run, a task that once required sappers to be sent out, over and over again. The Hyzhak ('Predator") uses artificial intelligence to identify and shoot drones out of the sky from 200 metres away. Its brother, the Liut ('Fury" ), a 7.62mm machine-gun platform, first bared its teeth in an ambush operation during Ukraine's incursion into Kursk last August. Vasyl, the founder of UGV Robotics, which produces the Liut, says the Russians were so surprised by the novelty that they immediately gave their positions away, letting other Ukrainian units target them. In the early days the UGV operators needed to be close to their prototypes to stay in range, often no more than a kilometre away. 'Shadow" and 'Shura", members of another brigade using UGVs, the 92nd, recall a time when they had to accompany their vehicle by foot to the front, a task that would be suicidal today because of Russian drones. Today, they can connect to them via Starlink from swivel chairs in command posts far from the front-line positions in the Kharkiv region. 'We can control the vehicle with the full situation mapped out on screens in front of us," says Shadow. 'One of us can be piloting, the other drinking Coca-cola or on a smoke break." But the operators do not foresee an era of robot-on-robot warfare just yet. Ground robots are some way from replacing infantry, they say. 'I think they will obviously support logistics, to help here and there, yes," says Shura. 'But never to replace infantry." The most immediate brake on mass deployment is communications. Starlink fails in difficult terrain or beneath trees. Mesh networks, where drones connect to each other to give data multiple paths to travel, can collapse if crucial nodes are lost. Viktor, an engineer of the Burevii design-and-production bureau, which makes UGVs used for logistics and kamikaze attacks, says the current technology probably needs an AI or machine-vision upgrade before mass use in active combat becomes realistic. That could be a year away. Another factor limiting a UGV revolution will be the availability of skilled operators, he says. 'We have very few who have completed enough missions and are still alive." Ukraine is winning in the UGV race at the moment—largely because it has to. The Kremlin, whose army is increasing by 8,000-9,000 men per month, probably does not feel anything like the same imperative. Equally, there is nothing to say that Russian UGV drone development will not go the same way as the first-person-view drone market before it. That is to say, Ukraine's innovation ecosystem opens up the technology, before Russia's industrial system copies, standardises and scales up on the best of it. But even though Ukraine's UGV developers acknowledge that the best of their creations will eventually be copied, they say even a modest shift can have real meaning. 'It will be a success if we replace 1% of our manpower needs on the front," says Vasyl. 'And I think right now we can do quite a bit better than 1%." © 2025, The Economist Newspaper Limited. All rights reserved. From The Economist, published under licence. The original content can be found on
The Hindu
23-05-2025
- Science
- The Hindu
Forest Department to pilot the use of drones and unmanned vehicles for fire management
To modernise its response to wildfires, the Forest Department plans to carry out a pilot study deploying unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) in select forest areas. The trial is aimed at assessing the effectiveness of these advanced machines in detecting and controlling forest fires. The plan comes as forest fires grow more frequent and intense, particularly in ecologically fragile zones where traditional firefighting methods can endanger human life and are often hampered by difficult terrain. As part of the pilot, UAVs, equipped with high-resolution RGB and thermal sensors, will conduct real-time aerial surveillance, verify fire alerts, and transmit precise location data to ground teams and command centres. UGVs, on the other hand, will be fitted with firefighting tools such as high-pressure water cannons and fire-retardant dispensers to support on-ground containment and post-fire assessment. An official said the goal of using these machines is to stop fires from causing too much damage, protect the ecology, and help the department better handle such disasters. The department will also conduct training programmes for its personnel, focusing on the operation, maintenance, and troubleshooting of UAVs and UGVs. Based on the results of the pilot, a phased rollout is planned across other vulnerable forest regions.
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
France to purchase and send robotic mine clearance systems to Ukraine
Ukraine will soon receive new robotic equipment for mine clearance, financed by France. The French company CNIM Systèmes Industriels, in cooperation with the Estonian company Milrem Robotics, will deliver six ROCUS uncrewed ground vehicles (UGVs) based on the THeMIS platform to the State Emergency Service of Ukraine. Source: Oboronka, a project of Mezha Media, a technology and IT news platform within Ukrainska Pravda's holding company, citing a press release by Milrem Robotics Quote from Kuldar Väärsi, CEO of Milrem Robotics: "We are proud to continue to support Ukraine through the contract with CNIM Systèmes Industriels. THeMIS UGVs have already proven their versatility and reliability in various operational scenarios in Ukraine and elsewhere." Details: The French ROCUS system integrates a special CNIM demining module on the Estonian THeMIS platform, which is a tracked autonomous ground vehicle. Due to the remote control, operators can clear areas of explosive items without putting themselves at risk. Technologically, the THeMIS platform is equipped with sensors and cameras to detect landmines and other threats, while the demining module allows for their safe neutralisation. The system is capable of operating in difficult conditions, such as rough terrain or rubble, making it indispensable for infrastructure restoration. Stock Photo Ukraine has received 15 THeMIS platforms, including the first seven ROCUS units delivered in 2022. The new vehicles will help ensure safe access to roads and agricultural land and contribute to the recovery of areas affected by the combat actions. Ukraine's State Emergency Service will be the main operator of these systems, using them for humanitarian mine clearance and recovery of territories. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!
Business Insider
20-05-2025
- Business Insider
'Flamethrower' robots are now officially a part of Ukraine's war
Ukraine's defense ministry has officially approved what it described as a flamethrower robot for its military units. The Krampus, a locally invented uncrewed ground vehicle, now joins more than 80 other supported ground drone designs that Kyiv's forces can use, the ministry said in a statement Monday. The ministry said the remotely piloted vehicle is equipped with RPV-16 rounds, which are rocket-propelled thermobaric rounds originally designed by Ukraine for infantry to fire from a portable launcher. Thermobaric rounds disperse a cloud of fuel into the air that is then ignited, creating a powerful blast. Built to "perform assault and defensive missions" against infantry and light armor, the Krampus is a tracked UGV that runs on two silent motors and can fit in the back of a pickup truck, the ministry added. The statement said its controls were jam-resistant and designed to withstand cold, heat, snow, and rain. It's also supposed to effectively cross off-road terrain such as thick forest, sand, swamps, and steep inclines. "The platform's battery capacity allows for several hours of continuous movement," the statement said. "Thanks to this, it can remain in position for extended periods in standby mode." The ministry didn't specify the drone's operational range or ammo capacity. Photos of the Krampus appear to show a tracked platform with a video camera that could fit four RPV-16 launchers. These launchers are typically single-use, so it's likely the Krampus can fire four times before having to be resupplied. Authorization by the defense ministry can be important for how widely a drone is used, since Ukrainian weapons manufacturing and innovation are dispersed across the country. As the war rages, various firms and military units work simultaneously on their own battlefield tech and often share them with one another. Official approval means Ukrainian forces can use their budgets to purchase the Krampus UGV. Their heavier frames offer more deployment options than a typical flying drone, such as carrying larger explosive payloads for attack missions, evacuating the wounded as a last resort, or clearing mines. "These drones allow us to replace infantry soldiers on the battlefield," Oleksandr Chernyavskiy, an enlisted soldier who helps with fundraising in the 241st Territorial Defense Brigade's drone prototyping team, told Business Insider of UGVs like the Krampus. His own brigade has created a similar tracked UGV with mounted belt-fed machine guns that he says runs on an operational range of 20 kilometers, or about 12 ½ miles. Typically, such assault UGVs fly in tandem with aerial drones that can help them scout for mines, traps, and targets, Chernyavskiy said. "It appeared to be quite effective in some kind of operations, like against well-equipped positions and traps," Chernyavskiy said of his brigade's weapons-mounted UGVs. "Usually, it's been used remotely without our infantry nearby." Ukraine has set a goal of fielding 15,000 UGVs on the battlefield by the end of the year.
