The former defense minister is recruiting engineers and companies to build robots for the military’s most dangerous tasks.
Mykhailo Fedorov, a former Ukrainian deputy prime minister, digital transformation minister and defense minister, announced the Army of Robots at the IT Arena conference in Lviv over the weekend. The initiative is open to defense tech companies and engineers developing robotic technologies. It is also seeking a chief technology officer or tech lead to head it.
From the Army of Drones to the Army of Robots
Fedorov pointed to the Army of Drones, launched in 2022, as a precedent for what he hopes to achieve.
“Back then, few people could imagine just how profoundly unmanned systems would change warfare,” he said. “Today, drones account for more than 95 percent of strikes, and Ukraine already has more than 700 UAV manufacturers.”
But technological warfare does not stand still, he argued, and Ukraine now needs its next breakthrough. His next bet is the robotization of warfare.
According to Fedorov, the Army of Robots has a straightforward mission: saving soldiers’ lives.
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“Robots should do the most dangerous work so our service members can come home,” he said.
He envisions a battlefield on which sensors first detect threats before robots enter dangerous areas. Humanoid and other robotic systems would evacuate wounded soldiers, deliver ammunition, lay and clear mines, conduct reconnaissance, defend positions and strike targets.
“Be the first to enter places where today we put our service members’ lives at risk,” he said.
The Army of Robots is intended to be an ecosystem rather than a single technology project. Fedorov and his team plan to invest in defense tech companies, launch their own technology projects, build research and development capabilities, test solutions alongside the military and quickly scale technologies that prove effective on the battlefield.
The initiative also builds on Fedorov’s plans for a new defense technology investment fund, announced in August. Unlike a conventional venture capital fund, the vehicle is intended both to invest in existing Ukrainian defense tech startups and to create new companies around technologies considered critical to the battlefield. Its initial areas of focus include battlefield robotics, jet-powered interceptor drones and low-cost AI-powered missiles.
Palantir CEO Alex Karp was later announced as the fund’s first lead investor. Fedorov aims to bring international capital and expertise into Ukraine’s defense sector while shortening the cycle between identifying a battlefield need, developing a technology and deploying it at scale.
“Make robots fight instead of people”
Fedorov acknowledged that one of Ukraine’s biggest challenges is how quickly Russia can copy and scale military technologies.
“That means we must constantly create the next technology cycle before the enemy does,” he said. “To make that happen, we need to bring together the best engineers, battlefield experience, capital and technology — and focus them on one goal. Make robots fight instead of people.”
Now working in the private sector, Fedorov said he is continuing the technological warfare strategy he pursued in government under the banner “AIR. LAND. ECONOMY.” Robotics, he argued, is one area where Ukraine could achieve its next significant breakthrough.
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Turning the battlefield into an R&D lab
The Army of Robots also sits within a broader Ukrainian defense innovation ecosystem increasingly built around shortening the distance between the battlefield and research and development.
One example is TrophyLab, launched by Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense in June. The platform turns captured Russian military hardware into a research resource. Verified defense companies, researchers, military units and international partners get access to technical documentation, research findings and analysis of Russian weapons. They can also request physical examinations of captured systems.
For defense tech startups, this effectively creates a real-world battlefield laboratory. Companies working on anti-drone systems, electronic warfare, autonomous platforms, sensors, communications and other military technologies can study actual adversary equipment and develop countermeasures, potentially shortening research cycles significantly.Â
