UKRAINE, KHARKIV OBLAST, Oct. 29 — Ukrainian brigade under the National Guard of Ukraine conducted the first autonomous logistics mission using a ground drone, powered by artificial intelligence (AI). Gwara Media received the information about the mission from Khartia’s press service on Oct. 28. 

The ground drone of Lava, an unmanned system regiment in Khartia, autonomously completed 93% of the 20-kilometer (~12-mile) route. The pilot only controlled the drone through 1,4 kilometers (~8,6 miles) of the route. 

Khartia said that the integration of AI-powered ground drones will make operators’ work less difficult and minimize human errors during combat missions in the kill zone, a zone where everything is targeted by Russian drones. 

Before getting an AI-powered ground drone on the road, another ground drone travels through the route and scans the terrain through light detection and ranging mechanisms. The visual information is then used to create a 3D model that an AI-powered robot uses as a guide. Those ground drones are equipped with cameras that recognize the route, the side road, and obstacles, and AI “makes decisions” on how to respond to the environment in real time. 

“The next stage here is evacuation. When ground drones like these are used massively, personnel will be able to conduct many more logistics missions,” Andrii Kopach, with a call sign Mathematician, commander of the “Lava” ground drone battalion. 

“Another important thing is that ground drones with AI depend less on having a consistent control channel — for instance, through Starlink,” Kopach added.  

The Ukrainian army just went through several weeks of issues with Starshield, the military arm of SpaceX Starlink solutions. Although imposed speed restrictions mostly affected drones moving at speeds over 100 mph, meaning the ground drones that usually move at about 20 mph (~12mph) would have been unaffected, the reliance on Starlink alone is described by some of the soldiers we’ve spoken to as a liability. 

Read more

⛈️ Winter is coming, and, for Ukraine, it is predicted to be awful. Please support our Kharkiv-based newsroom with a $5 coffee to help us withstand whatever Russia has prepared for us.