Kyiv Start-Up Tests Unified Controller for Robots and Drones The technology would allow video-game-like control of robotic swarms
Ukraine’s young tech entrepreneurs think that a combination of robots and lessons from war-gaming could turn the tide in the war against Russia. They are developing an intelligent operating system to enable a single controller to remotely operate swarms of interconnected drones and cannon-equipped land robots. The tech, they say, could help Ukraine cope with Russia’s numerical advantage.
Kyiv-based start-up Ark Robotics is conducting trials on an embryo of such a system in cooperation with one of the brigades of Ukraine’s ground forces. The company emerged about a year ago, when a group of young roboticists heard a speech by one of the Ukrainian commanders detailing challenges on the frontline.
“At that time, we were building unmanned ground vehicles [UGVs],” said one of those roboticists, now an engineer at Ark Robotics. “But we heard that what we had [to offer] wasn’t enough. They said they needed something more.” He spoke with IEEE Spectrum on the sidelines of the Brave 1 Defense Tech Innovations Forum held in Kyiv last month. IEEE Spectrum is identifying him only as Anatoly, to comply with his request for confidentiality during a war.