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SOF Week 25 – Transcend Robotics

Wednesday, May 14th, 2025

Transcend Robotics exhibited their Vantage Mil and Vantage Mini systems in the ADS Inc booth.

The Mini is a great throw-bot option, offering 8-inch automatic obstacle climbing, 2-hour runtime with swappable batteries, and up to 250ft communications NLOS.

Vantage MIL, an under 40 pound multi-mission ISR UGV is deployable in under one minute. Based on patented mobility technology, no operator intervention is required to overcome cluttered areas, barriers up to 16 inches, and international stairs.

These systems are IP-based allowing you to use Silvus, Persistent Systems, or other approved radios as required, that can also serve as comms relays (currently comes standard with Silvus). The robots come with tracks as well as wheels, allowing you to select which drive setup best suits your mission, and you can easily swap between them in the field. You can integrate with ATAK directly, or by utilizing Tomahawk’s Kinesis Ecosystem and S20 Grip controller.

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European High-Tech Consortium Secures Funding from the European Defence Fund to Develop Multipurpose Unmanned Ground Systems

Saturday, May 10th, 2025

The consortium that successfully delivered the groundbreaking iMUGS (integrated Modular Unmanned Ground System) project in 2023 has secured funding from the European Defence Fund (EDF) for the follow-up project, iMUGS2, which aims to develop next-generation Multipurpose Unmanned Ground Systems (UGS).

The consortium’s €55 million proposal, submitted under the EDF’s 2024 call for collaborative defence research and development, was officially approved for funding of nearly €50 million in late April. This strategic victory highlights Europe’s commitment to enhancing its defence capabilities and technological independence through innovative and cooperative industrial development.

“Winning this EDF call is a crucial step in ensuring that Europe remains at the forefront of developing advanced unmanned technologies. Our consortium unites top-tier expertise from across the EU, and we are prepared to deliver a capability that enhances our armed forces’ operational effectiveness and safety,” said Raul Rikk, Capability Development Director at Milrem Robotics, the consortium lead.

Unmanned vehicles (UxVs) have emerged as one of the most significant innovations in modern military operations, as evidenced by their deployment during the war in Ukraine. Effective cooperation among UxVs, manned vehicles, operators, and soldiers is crucial for enhancing combat effectiveness. This collaboration aims to reduce casualties, minimise collateral damage, and lessen the cognitive burden on warfighters.

Using outputs from iMUGS and other European-funded initiatives, iMUGS2 aims to expedite research and move rapidly towards practical, deployable solutions. The enhancement of operational capabilities will be demonstrated through trials with military tactical units. The project will also focus on developing interoperability among European nations and incorporate lessons from recent conflicts, including the war in Ukraine, where several Consortium member systems are deployed.

“Our project aims to develop and deploy cost-effective, modular unmanned systems capable of supporting dismounted, mechanised, and motorised infantry in all European environments, including GNSS-denied areas and adverse climatic conditions,” Rikk added.

iMUGS2 has three primary outcomes. Firstly, it aims to develop, validate, and demonstrate cost-effective, combat-ready UGSs that support dismounted troops at various operational levels and provide practical value in different operations. Secondly, the project will establish operational concepts demonstrating how UGS and unmanned aerial systems (UAS) can enhance the capabilities of infantry battalions and cross-domain operations. Thirdly, the project will improve the modular and open architecture and Through Life Capability Management (TLCM) framework, which enables the efficient integration of autonomous functionalities with both legacy and new systems across unmanned and optionally manned ground platforms, including the conversion of manned vehicles.

About the Consortium

The iMUGS2 consortium has grown to include 29 partners from 15 European Union member states and associated nations, encompassing all initial project partners. The team consists of large corporations, mid-sized businesses, SMEs, and research organisations. Each partner contributes leading expertise in their respective fields, promoting a comprehensive vision throughout the project’s lifecycle. This diversity allows the consortium to tackle potential challenges and deliver strategic and effective solutions.

The iMUGS2 Consortium consists of the following entities: AVL List, Bittium Wireless, Czech Technical University in Prague, Cybernetica, Delft Dynamics, Diehl Defence, dotOcean, Elettronica, Escribano Mechanical and Engineering, FN Herstal, GMV Aerospace and Defence, Huta Stalowa Wola, Insta Advance, Integrated Systems Development, John Cockerill Defense, KNDS France, KNDS Germany, Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace, Latvijas Mobilais Telefons, ?ukasiewicz – PIAP, Milrem Robotics (project coordinator), Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research, Nortal (Talgen Cybersecurity), Norwegian Defence Research Establishment, the Royal Military Academy of Belgium, Safran Electronics & Defense, Secura, Svensk Konstruktionstjänst, Systecon Konsult.

For more information, please visit imugs.eu.

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Learn About Ghost Robotics During SOF Week

Monday, May 5th, 2025

Ghost Robotics will be exhibiting their Vision 60 Quadraped Unmanned Ground Vehicles in the Raven Advisory booth #1453 during this week’s SOF Week at the Tampa Convention Center, May 6-8.

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Army Advances Research in Robotics, AI and Autonomy

Friday, April 18th, 2025

ADELPHI, Md. — In recognition of National Robotics Week, U.S. Army researchers highlight some of their groundbreaking work aimed at advancing the future of human-machine integration for the battlefield.

The U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Army Research Laboratory, known as DEVCOM ARL, robotics research spans across ground and air autonomous systems, and energy systems, that support future mobility and maneuverability of these systems. ARL robotics researchers partner with industry, government and academia to help protect and support the Soldier.

One example of a recent ARL breakthrough is integrating generative artificial intelligence with robotics for battle damage assessment operations. ARL robots are now capable of understanding and responding to natural language, offering the Soldier human-like interactions.

“We are bridging the gap between humans and robots, making them more intuitive, responsive, and, ultimately, more useful for the Soldier,” said Phil Osteen, a lead researcher for the Artificial Intelligence for Maneuver and Mobility, or AIMM program. “ARL researchers have demonstrated an interactive bi-directional communication system that enables real-time exchanges between humans and robots.”

By interacting with Soldiers using natural language, robots can better communicate battlefield observations such as damage assessments and mission execution reports, enhancing battlefield operations.

The AIMM program is also focused on advancing autonomous off-road mobility, human-guided machine learning, and tactical behaviors that go beyond simple point-to-point movement. Army operations are complex, requiring considerations such as cover, concealment, mission considerations and formation controls, according to Udam Silva, AIMM program manager.

“We’ve made significant progress in off-road mobility,” Silva said. “We can now autonomously navigate through dense vegetation at operational speeds.”

ARL researchers also leverage external collaboration. In a research effort under AIMM, robotics researchers collaborate with an industry partner, Overland AI, on dual-use hardware and software solutions for ground autonomy, enabling vehicles to navigate challenging natural terrain autonomously at operationally relevant speeds.

In a separate ARL autonomous program, Human Autonomy Teaming, or HAT, is creating a cutting-edge toolkit of a suite of technologies that enable continuous mission planning, execution and review process between humans and autonomous systems, offering a more honest assessment. This iterative, or continuous assessment is a way of shortening that cycle, so Soldiers can determine when their autonomous systems deviate and why.

“This gives Soldiers the tools to correct robots’ behaviors using techniques such as human-guided machine learning developed by multiple ARL programs,” said Dr. Brandon Perelman, HAT program manager.

The HAT program is ensuring the U.S. Army’s software is continually refined to counter adversaries’ adaptations, according to Perelman.

According to Perelman, the software being developed is compatible with multiple interfaces, so mission plans can go into any equipped vehicle. It has a data synchronization and re-streaming package so different data streams can line up, while also looking at video feeds and positions, navigation and timing data from a robot for a fuller view of a complex situation such as encountered on the battlefield.

The HAT program informs future research aimed to expand vertically to higher, larger echelons in the Army chain of command as well as horizontally, across warfighting functions, to include multiple domains such as mount-dismount coordination, and ground-air teaming.

These examples represent some of ARL’s transformative robotics work that span multiple critical domains, designed to enhance military capabilities and ensure technological superiority.

By U.S. Army DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory Public Affairs

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Scout AI Emerges from Stealth with $15M Seed Round, Lands 2 DoD Contracts, and Unveils Fury – Robotic Foundation Model for Defense

Thursday, April 17th, 2025

SUNNYVALE, Calif., April 16, 2025 — Scout AI Inc. (“Scout”) today announced its emergence from stealth mode with a bold mission: to build the AGI brain for defense robotics. The company also unveiled an oversubscribed $15 million seed round led by Align Ventures and Booz Allen Ventures, and revealed it has been selected for multiple Department of Defense (DoD) contracts.

Founded in August 2024 by Colby Adcock and Collin Otis, Scout brings together deep experience at the intersection of AI, robotics, and defense. CEO Colby Adcock is a former tech private equity executive and current board member at humanoid robotics company Figure AI. CTO Collin Otis is a serial entrepreneur who previously was a founding engineer and Director of Autonomy and AI at Kodiak Robotics and Head of Data Science and Chief of Staff at Uber ATG. He has built autonomy systems from the ground up for both commercial and military platforms and previously sold a venture-backed startup to Target.

At the core of Scout’s breakthrough is Fury, a defense-specific Vision-Language-Action (VLA) foundation model engineered to transform every defense robot into an intelligent, autonomous agent. Unlike traditional robotics software, Fury is an embodied AI system — capable of perceiving the physical world, interpreting natural language, and issuing real-time motor commands to act decisively even in communication and GPS-denied environments.

“Achieving warfighter-level versatility in robotic systems requires grounding AI in physical reality,” said Otis. “By training our system on human-level behavior we make our AI embodied. Fury develops the kind of intelligence warfighters naturally have — situational, physical, and adaptive.”

What sets Fury apart from conventional language models is its ability to perceive, reason, and act across multiple modalities. It doesn’t just output text — it commands machines. Trained on large-scale real-world data, Fury brings multimodal reasoning and precision control to a wide spectrum of uncrewed systems: ground, air, sea, and space. It can be directed via natural language or fine-tuned for specific mission profiles, delivering human-like autonomy at machine scale.

Scout’s first two prototypes — the G01 unmanned ground vehicle and A01 unmanned aerial vehicle — are already operating autonomously powered by Fury at the company’s proving grounds in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

“Physical AI is the most decisive military advantage of the century,” said Adcock. “Our vision is one warfighter commanding many robots — seamlessly integrated into a unified team. That level of human-machine integration requires an AI brain like Fury that understands commander intent and can think, move, and collaborate like seasoned operators. That’s how we achieve true force multiplication.”

Scout is proudly planting its flag in Silicon Valley, building its team in Sunnyvale and pulling top AI and autonomy talent from the self-driving, big tech, and defense worlds to tackle this critical mission. “We’re bringing in the world’s best engineers to work on the world’s most important frontier — making sure this AI is built securely and responsibly for the good guys,” said Adcock. “Our adversaries are already building it. We must develop this technology and outpace them — and ensure the U.S. leads the future of intelligent defense systems.”

Scout is also taking a partnership-driven approach. Its Fury system is designed to be lightweight, modular, and hardware-agnostic — running on as little as a single commercial off-the-shelf camera and low-power inference chip, enabling rapid integration into existing and emerging robotic hardware systems. A growing list of robotics companies are partnering with Scout to embed Fury into their platforms, unlocking advanced autonomy without overhauling their hardware. Industry partners looking to learn more can reach out directly via partnerships@scoutco.ai.

“Our system is designed to make existing platforms intelligent, and we’re excited to be working with partners across the defense ecosystem to bring that capability to scale,” noted Otis.

Scout closed on its $15 million seed round, led by Align Ventures and Booz Allen Ventures, with participation from Draper Associates, Decisive Point Ventures, Perot Jain, Sigmas Group, Evolution VC, BVVC, Habitat Partners, Piedmont Capital Investments, FJ Labs, Revelry Venture Partners, Monte Carlo Capital, Expansion VC, and Gaingels.

To learn more, visit scoutco.ai.

Posted in AI / ML, Contracts, Industry, Press Release, Robotics | 1 Comment »

NRC “Lyut”: Ukrainian Units Will be Strengthened by a New Soldier-Robot

Wednesday, March 19th, 2025

The Ministry of Defense codified and allowed the domestically produced ground robotic complex “Lyut” to be operated in the units of the Defense Forces of Ukraine. It is designed to perform a wide range of tasks in difficult conditions. In particular, to conduct surveillance and fire support for the actions of our units. This was reported by the Main Directorate for Support of the Life Cycle of Weapons and Military Equipment.

The robotic complex “Lyut” has been tested in real combat conditions. The robot is armed with a 7.62 caliber machine gun and additional equipment, thanks to which it can detect and hit targets both day and night. The NRC is quite compact – it fits in the body of a military pickup truck, equipped with a silent electric motor. The capacity of the batteries is enough for a fairly long time of operation. The NRC has a fairly high clearance, which allows you to move steadily on terrain with difficult terrain. “Fury” works at a wide range of temperatures.

The operator controls the complex from a protected position without being exposed to danger. The main task of ground robots is to strengthen our units and replace the soldier in the most dangerous areas.

We remind the manufacturers of military equipment that useful information on the procedure for codification of new types of weapons and military equipment can be found here.

Photo provided by the manufacturer

This is a translated press release from the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine

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Overwatch and Milrem Robotics Announce Strategic Collaboration to Advance Unmanned Defence Capabilities

Monday, March 17th, 2025

Overwatch, a British aerospace and defence business specialising in the design and manufacture of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and Milrem Robotics, the world’s leading robotics and autonomous systems developer, have signed a collaboration agreement to drive product development, production, and sales of cutting-edge unmanned defence solutions worldwide.

Under this collaboration, Overwatch and Milrem Robotics will undertake joint research and development assessments to explore possibilities for integrating capabilities, payloads, and effects between Overwatch’s UAVs and Milrem Robotics’ unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs), with the aim of developing highly interoperable unmanned systems.

Both parties will engage in collaborative test and evaluation efforts to advance operational capabilities and deliver enhanced performance under realistic mission conditions.

“Overwatch is thrilled to embark on this strategic collaboration with Milrem Robotics,” said Drew Michael, CEO of Overwatch. “By leveraging our respective strengths in UAV and UGV technologies, we aim to deliver unparalleled unmanned defence capabilities to meet the evolving needs of our customers worldwide.”

“We look forward to working closely with Overwatch to expand our product portfolios and address emerging market demands,” said Kuldar Väärsi, CEO of Milrem Robotics. “By combining our expertise and jointly exploring R&D and testing, we expect to develop integrated solutions that will significantly enhance operational effectiveness and mission success for our clients,” he added.

The companies will also coordinate marketing activities to promote each other’s products beyond their domestic markets, opening up new business opportunities across global defence sectors.

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Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) Acquires THeMIS UGV from Milrem Robotics

Wednesday, March 5th, 2025

The U.S. Army’s Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) has acquired a THeMIS Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) equipped with the MIFIK Intelligent Functions Kit from Milrem Robotics. This cutting-edge technology will be used for further research in extreme cold environments in Arctic regions.

The THeMIS UGV is a modular and robust unmanned platform designed for various applications, including logistics, reconnaissance, and operational support. In its Cargo configuration, the THeMIS enables troops to effortlessly transport supplies, equipment, and extra weapons to the mission area, reducing soldiers’ cognitive load and the need for manpower.

The integration of MIFIK further enhances the platform with autonomous navigation, making it indispensable for operations in challenging terrain and climate conditions.

The THeMIS UGV is part of robotics programs or in service in 19 countries, making it the most widely used UGV in its size class.

“The THeMIS is the most mature UGV on the market. Its integration into multiple nations’ combat formations reduces customers’ overall integration and procurement risk,” said Patrick Shepherd, Chief Sales Officer at Milrem Robotics. “Milrem has the lessons learned and depth of experience to ensure a smooth integration into the military forces.”

The acquisition of this system aligns with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers mission to advance technological innovation in support of national security and operational readiness. The THeMIS UGV will be deployed in various experimental and operational scenarios to assess its capabilities and contribute to ongoing research into autonomous systems for cold-weather operations.

CRREL is part of the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) and is dedicated to solving interdisciplinary challenges in cold and complex environments through engineering and scientific research. CRREL supports military and civilian operations by developing innovative solutions for infrastructure, mobility, and operational effectiveness in extreme climates.

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