New Scientist
Ukraine’s war robots are moving from supply runs to front-line combat.
How robots are replacing soldiers on the battlefield
Author: David Hambling
ROBOTS in battle are about to reach a critical point for Ukraine. In May, it began the mass production of Legit, a low-cost robot capable of carrying a machine gun. This comes after announcing plans to replace a third of its infantry with uncrewed ground vehicles (UGVs) in one sector, despite their limitations.
“Even imperfect systems become valuable if they absorb risk instead of soldiers,” says Oleksandra Molloy at the University of New South Wales in Australia.
The most important proving ground for Ukraine’s robots will be the front line. That is where casualties are most likely and where substituting machines for people is most vital. Yet, the front is only thinly populated with soldiers watching over ditches and minefields. The real intelligence gathering is done by drones, with one Ukrainian soldier reportedly saying that the observers are only there because “old generals” demand boots on the ground.
So could robots hold the line alone? Mykola Zinkevych, a commander in the Ukrainian military, says they already have. He says that a quad bike-sized UGV, driven by a remote operator at around 6 kilometres per hour, occupied a front-line position for 45 days, fighting off Russian troops solo. UGVs had previously been used mainly to transport supplies.
The next challenge for UGVs is offensive attacks, but these are harder because of mobility difficulties. In 2024, the Ukrainian military carried out the first ever robot-only assault. Even after careful surveys to avoid obstacles, two of the machines got stuck. Nevertheless, the assault was successful in taking the Russian position.
Even imperfect systems become valuable if they absorb risk instead of soldiers
Ukraine has continued small-scale UGV operations since, allowing the military to develop specific robot tactics. “Everyone must understand: this is about saving lives,” said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in April, as he announced plans to ramp up UGV production to 50,000 UGVs in 2026, up from around half that figure last year.
There is no particular technological breakthrough that has led to this moment. UGVs are relatively simple robots and are controlled by a remote human operator. The US deployed, but didn’t use, similar armed robots in Iraq in 2007. But Ukraine has a particular pressure to test robots as its army is so outnumbered by Russian soldiers. For this same reason, Russia has experimented less with automation.
The costs are modest. The Legit costs only around $11,400, in part because it uses components originally designed for Hoverboards. “The battlefield rarely rewards elegance,” says Molloy. “It rewards survivability, redundancy, low cost and mass.”
Ukraine’s Commander of the Third Army Corps Andriy Biletskyi says he hopes robots will make up 80 per cent of the Ukrainian fighting force in the near future.
But there will be ethical concerns about possible upgrades to AI-powered machines following reports of the first soldiers killed by fully autonomous drones (see “First deaths from ‘killer drones’ “, left).
The success of Ukraine’s UGVs isn’t guaranteed, and many will argue that trench warfare is an easy environment for robots compared with other types of conflict. But the coming of robot soldiers in Ukraine could mark a permanent change in the face of war.
Credits: TCA, LLC.