Ukrainian soldiers are evacuating wounded soldiers with ground robots — but the risks mean it's only done as a last resort
Soldiers in Ukraine sometimes use ground drones to evacuate their injured comrades, but because doing so is so risky, this approach is really only a last resort, an operator told Business Insider.
Ground robots have been used throughout the conflict, but the technology is becoming more prolific.
Drones in the sky are replacing certain traditional combat roles, and the uncrewed ground vehicles, UGVs, are doing the same, reducing the number of situations in which soldiers put themselves directly in the line of fire.
Ground drones that can evacuate the wounded without putting additional soldiers at risk could be a game changer in a war marked by mass surveillance, relentless drone and artillery strikes, and the intentional targeting of medics.
The problem, Oleksandr Yabchanka, the head of the robotic systems for Ukraine's Da Vinci Wolves Battalion, told BI, is that these drones can put the injured at greater risk, making the army less willing to employ UGVs in this way except as a last resort.
A last resort
When a team of soldiers rushes out to evacuate the wounded, they are always in danger because of the "ginormous number of intelligence drones" in the sky ready to direct Russian fire toward them, Yabchanka said.
This risk has pushed Ukraine to develop robotic alternatives, but despite the advantages technology brings, Yabchanka said that they "do not often use robot-based evacuation."
With UGV technology still in its infancy, his unit continuously receives new and upgraded drone models, each new system better than the last, but he said they're far from ideal.
When a wounded soldier is being transported, the system can sometimes get disconnected because of a fault or Russian jamming, a problem for drone operators.
That can actually create "an even worse situation" because the injured serviceman is no longer with any of his comrades, and instead, "they are in the middle of a field."
"You have no communication with that person to check how they are," Yabchanka said, explaining that at least before, they were with their brothers and sisters in arms, even if it was dangerous.
"Now they turn out to be in the middle of a field and then this system got stuck," he said. That means "we still resort to evacuation with human beings, that's when it's possible. Even though we understand that that might trigger additional danger."
Sometimes there's no other choice
Yabchanka said that evacuating a soldier from the front line typically takes at least four soldiers, and it's difficult because the enemy is watching. Drones are constantly buzzing about.
There are times when trying to evacuate the soldier "without being seen it is extremely difficult or I would say in some instances impossible," he said.
The evacuation team is unlikely to be able to get to the injured person without being seen, and it's very likely that Russia will fire at the injured soldier and the team.
"When we cannot evacuate without being seen, we resort to the on-the-ground robotized systems," he said. Ultimately, "in the vast majority of robotized evacuation cases, it is when there is simply no other way."
Emerging technology
Uncrewed ground vehicles are a newer technology. Unlike aerial platforms, these systems haven't reached all of Ukraine's military yet, but they have helped evacuate soldiers in parts of the front.
They could prove crucial as Ukraine's military remains much smaller than Russia's and its soldiers operate without the ability to reliably receive medical care within the life-saving "golden hour" that Western armies have enjoyed for decades.
Yabchanka said that his unit uses ground drones for a range of functions, including laying mines, moving equipment, and blowing up Russian positions, not just evacuation.
It's a technology that many units aren't using right now or can only employ in a limited capacity, but a host of Ukrainian companies are working on developing it and expanding its use.
Some of the companies working in this space include Ukraine's Rovertech, which makes the ZMIY Ground Demining Complex, and FRDM Group, which makes the D-21 ground robotic system.
It's a technology space Russia is working in, too, and one that could likely turn into a development and production race, just as it has with aerial drones.
Yabchanka said that when it comes to advancing ground drone technology, "the question is not if but when the Russians will do that. So the question is: Who will do it faster?"
"We need to scale all these things up quicker than the Russians do," he added.
Ukrainian intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov said in September that he expects "the number of those robot systems will grow, grow immensely in the order of tens."
Hlib Kanevskyi, the director of the procurement department at Ukraine's Ministry of Defense, said the government plans to supply 15,000 robots for combat use this year.
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