A new kind of technology developed by a Kyiv-based firm can remotely control military drone swarms and cannon-equipped land robots with a single controller. Ark Robotics is working on an intelligent operating system and conducting trials on an embryo of such a system with Ukraine’s ground forces.
The intelligent Frontier OS operating system runs across drone onboard computers, servers, and interfaces and can revolutionize the autonomous fleet.
The integrated platform for large-scale operations connects multiple systems across all domains. Engineers must complete the set-up and administer their drone fleet for the deployment. Then, the fleet will be ready to operate across complex missions with video-game-like control.
Latest system can streamline drone operations
“We are working with liberal democracies around the world to help them integrate and operate autonomous systems at scale. Squads, swarms, and tactical-level command and control delivered as a full-stack integrated solution for a wide range of defense and border protection use cases,” said Ark Robotics in a statement.
Every drone needs one operator, and complicated drones need two or three operators. However, the latest system can streamline drone operations and reduce operational costs.
The unifying interface by Ark Robotics allows drones and UGVs made by different makers to work together under the control of operators seated in control rooms miles away from the action site.
Technology tested in logistics exercises
Andryi Udovychenko, Ark Robotics’s operations lead, told IEEE Spectrum that the platform allows a single operator to guide a flock of robots remotely but will, in the future, also incorporate autonomous navigation and task execution.
The team has tested the technology in simple logistics exercises. For the grand vision to work, though, the biggest challenge will be maintaining reliable communication links between the controller and the robotic fleet and between the robots and drones.
“We are entering a new era of mass use of robotics systems on the battlefield and core industries. It requires a new type of platforms to enable use of thousands different autonomous vehicles working together in realtime,” said the company in the statement.
Foundational technologies to power multi-system autonomous fleets
Ark Robotics revealed that the decision-making speed of such a platform would greatly exceed any existing human-in-the-loop systems and create a true asymmetrical advantage for its users. It also poses a new set of security challenges and requires radically new hardware and interfaces.
“We are building core foundational technologies to power multi-system autonomous fleets of the future. Our products asymmetrically expand the number of parallel real-time missions per operator and work as an integrated solution ready to be deployed for most critical use-cases,” added the company.
However, some roboticists are skeptical of the effectiveness of such systems as they believe swarms of autonomous robots will crawl en-masse across the battlefields of Eastern Ukraine any time soon.
Ivan Movchan, CEO of the Ukrainian Scale Company, a Kharkiv-based robot maker, told Spectrum that swarming is a goal that firms should reach, but it’s much easier with FPV drones than with ground-based robots.
“Navigation on the ground is more challenging simply because of the obstacles. But I do expect UGVs to become very common in Ukraine over the next year,” added Movchan.
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