Former Minister of Defense and Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov said that Ukrainian military humanoid robots should "ideally" cost $10,000-$20,000 and will perform basic infantry tasks on the front. At the first stage, they will be focused on replacing humans in the most dangerous situations, in particular when reloading weapons or servicing autonomous sensors.
Former Minister of Defense and Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov said that Ukrainian military humanoid robots should "ideally" cost $10,000-$20,000 and will perform basic infantry tasks on the front. At the first stage, they will be focused on replacing humans in the most dangerous situations, in particular when reloading weapons or servicing autonomous sensors.
Fedorov said this in an interview with Forbes Ukraine.
According to him, the main challenge for the mass introduction of robots is their cost and the possibility of scaling production, since the Defense Forces' need is measured in tens of thousands of units. Ready-made foreign devices from the United States cost an average of $40,000–$70,000 per unit, which is too expensive for mass procurement.
“The ambition to have a humanoid robot needs to be decomposed into different stages of development. Start with a simple solution and then develop it further. From the types of humanoids that we see in the US, we come to simple models that can be scaled. Ideally, the cost should be $10,000–$20,000,” Fedorov noted.
Structurally, the developers are focused on creating humanoid-like platforms, rather than classic human copies. At the first stage, such robots will be able to perform practical tasks for stormtroopers and infantrymen: reloading machine guns, changing batteries in autonomous sensors, or launching drones. The first full-fledged prototype and a clear understanding of the component base are expected to be available in about a month.
As a reminder, on September 26, Mikhail Fedorov announced the launch of the "Army of Robots" project with the goal of achieving the first defeat of a Russian using a humanoid robot within six months .
