The modern world is witnessing rapid and continuous development of science and technology. Germany, Japan, and South Korea are leading the way in robotics. However, Ukrainian inventors have some achievements in this area, both in terms of industrial production and startups.

Industrial production

Standard-PACK is a manufacturer of self-propelled platforms, robotic carts, self-propelled robot tugs that can move cargo from one point to another, are equipped with motion sensors and reach a travel speed of 0.5 m/s. They are the first Ukrainian analogues of the world-famous

Kiva from Amazon Fetch & Freight from Fetch Robotics and OTTO 100 from Kitchener, Ontario’s Clearpath Robotics. The main consumers of Standard-PACK products are logistics and manufacturing. An example of successful cooperation is the use of robo-trucks to transport parcels from the receiving area to the warehouse and back at Nova Poshta terminals.

The following company, Drone.UA, specializes in the development and sale of products in the field of unmanned technologies. It cooperates with representatives of the agricultural sector, energy, oil and gas industry, geodesy and topography. More than 2 million hectares of sown areas in Ukraine use Drone.UA’s developments. The company’s arsenal includes more than 10 types of multi-rotor platforms and the PD1900 aircraft platform, which is designed to obtain aerial photography data and can cover 400 hectares of land.

The ELEKS IT company has created an unmanned tank ET-1 (tankette). The main purpose of this device is to evacuate the wounded and conduct reconnaissance operations in places inaccessible to humans. It can be used in civilian life as a truck or tractor. The company is also a supplier of drones for civil aviation.

The developers ofMechanismus are the largest producers of robotic mannequins in Ukraine for advertising products in clothing stores and exhibitions. The robot has 9 controllable joints, which allows it to perform simple dance moves and greetings. It works either by timer or after the activation of motion detectors. This mannequin is completely autonomous: to change the scenario, it is enough to rewrite the movement program on a flash drive.

Startups and hobbies

RnD64 presented its Hello Egg device at CES in 2017, which was shaped like an egg and acted as a kitchen assistant. The robot is equipped with a screen that displays step-by-step recipes for various dishes and the usual voice-activated instructions. The assistant can entertain the owner with music from online services or check the weather forecast. An egg can not only listen to its owner, but also maintain a conversation with him.

Mark Drobnich is working on the ELFi home robot. This mechanism is being developed on the basis of Lego Details, the “intelligence” is Android, and the executive base is Lego Bricks. Mark developed the Brain App program, which is the basis of the device. The project combines 5 types of robots that perform different functions, such as delivering objects from point A to point B or memorizing and reproducing movements.

Andriy Gontarenko is the author of the Underwater robot project, a remote-controlled vehicle for exploring water bodies. The components of the device include: a built-in video camera, lights, actuators, an on-board computer, a digital horizon, depth and temperature sensors, a hull tightness control, and a microphone. It can be controlled remotely using a laptop, tablet, or smartphone.

Sergiy Koba is working on Pluto, a two-wheeled robot. It can stream movies over a local network using the built-in camera. The movement of the device is controlled by a person through an Internet browser. The owner of Pluto can rotate the camera in different directions to increase the viewing angle. You can use it to explore any room.

Oleksii Mykhailichenko is the author of a universal ground drone with remote control. It can be used for military and civilian purposes, for example, for reconnaissance, mine clearance, debris removal, and rescue operations. To control the robot, you need to install the mobile application and have an Android operating system of at least 7th version and set up a Bluetooth connection. The basic structure of the device includes tracks, a robotic arm, video cameras in the front, and motion sensors.

Sumy State University has developed an unmanned robot for firing. Different types of small arms can be mounted on the robotic platform, and then remotely guided and aimed at enemy positions, changing the angle as needed. The device is designed to be mounted on a quad bike and can shoot at moving and stationary targets, as a special mechanism follows the terrain and aligns the vertical axis, which allows the sight to be kept parallel to the horizon line.

Engineers in Sumy have come up with another development. They have created a combat robot hunter that can ride for up to 12 minutes in a row and is equipped with its own arsenal: a machine gun and a thermal imaging scope. It is known that it has successfully passed the test.

Thus, we can observe the following trends and prospects in the development of robotics in Ukraine:

• The consumer sector is experiencing a steady demand for cleaning robots and drones;
• A small number of industrial robots are sold every year;
• The fastest growing area of robotics is the educational sector, with a growing number of clubs and schools in this area