Robots reporting for duty

By comparison, ground robot usage in the Russo-Ukrainian war has been relatively modest, with Ukraine reporting thousands of ground robot missions per month versus hundreds of thousands of drone sorties per month. Yet the latest numbers suggest the Ukrainian military has stepped up its effort to deploy more robots for supply runs and medical evacuations, which can reduce human exposure to drone threats. Ukraine has also increasingly deployed such robots in combat roles, armed with machine guns and grenade launchers or sometimes equipped to explode like roving bombs.

One example of such robots is the Droid TW 12.7 developed by the Ukrainian company DevDroid. As described in the company’s marketing material, the tracked robot is armed with an M2 Browning machine gun mounted on a remotely controlled turret and capable of traveling up to 15 miles (25 kilometers) at a top speed equivalent to an adult’s walking pace. The human operator can communicate with the robot via radio, and the robot can also incorporate Starlink’s satellite service.

But military robots can still fall prey to enemy drones and also face challenges in traversing battle-scarred landscapes. A deputy battalion commander of Ukraine’s 38th Marine Brigade told The Kyiv Independent that robots attempting to evacuate wounded soldiers failed to reach the positions in four out of five cases due to such complicating factors.

Like drones, robots can also face communication challenges from signal loss and enemy electronic warfare, according to the Lowy Institute. And Ukraine’s robotic efforts are in competition with the Russian military, which has similarly increased its use of robots on the frontlines over the winter of 2025–2026.

The ground robot surge can be seen as the latest response to the increased lethality of modern warfare dominated by drones. Current-generation robots may not deliver a decisive technological edge so much as provide another way for military commanders to mitigate modern battlefield risks for human soldiers. The commander of Ukraine’s 3rd Army Corps suggested that if military units incorporate more robots, they could reduce their infantry ranks by up to 30 percent by the end of this year. If Ukraine succeeds in that goal, it would mark another notable step for the growing robotic presence on the battlefield.

This story was updated to include information on the Droid TW 12.7.