A Russian group is cobbling together hoverboards, a form of personal transport, to create four-wheeled robots capable of carrying out kamikaze attacks, moving supplies or laying a smokescreen.
Both sides in the Russia-Ukraine war are using improvised aerial drones by the thousand, while in the Black Sea, Ukraine has deployed an armada of . Both sides are also developing cheap ground-based robots, and Russia鈥檚 latest effort is an extreme example.
In May, a Russian volunteer group called Two Majors launched an appeal for people to donate old hoverboards, also known as self-balancing scooters. These devices can typically travel at 12 kilometres per hour for 3 hours on one charge. They are available for under $150 new and for much less second-hand.
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Videos posted by the group show technicians combining two hoverboards into a four-wheeled machine they nicknamed the 鈥渇ighting cockroach鈥�. They show it is capable of traversing various types of terrain, including long grass, and deploying a the size of an anti-tank mine, suggesting both defensive and offensive capability. In a posted on 4 July, the group displayed finished robots that were ready to ship and described them as kamikazes, saying there were more in the warehouse and appealing for donors to send in more unwanted hoverboards.
Two Majors isn鈥檛 the first group to turn to hoverboards as a robotics platform. Communities of hoverboard hackers share designs for delivery robots and other projects online. A typical design uses two hoverboards, a commercial processor such as a Raspberry Pi with open-source software, a radio controller and a body made from scrap metal and 3D-printed plastic.
The difference is that such devices haven鈥檛 previously been used as uncrewed ground vehicles, or UGVs. While larger, military-grade UGVs are highly capable, they are also rare and expensive. Ukraine operates a handful , but these cost around $1 million each. Russia has similarly advanced machines and has fielded some in Syria, but seems reluctant to deploy them in Ukraine, perhaps due to the cost. The focus has therefore moved to smaller garage-built machines, which are more expendable.
The hoverboard robot takes affordability to the extreme. This simple design doesn鈥檛 seem to have a camera, but is controlled remotely, possibly using the overhead view from a drone. The makers say it can be controlled from 2 kilometres away and can carry 100 kilograms. And while military robots takes years to develop, this one was fielded in weeks and probably cost a few hundred dollars per unit.
at the US Center for Naval Analyses in Washington DC says that while the low cost makes the hoverboard robots easy to produce, they may not be as effective as tracked UGVs.
鈥淗overboards were designed to go over mostly smooth surfaces like paved roads and asphalt, so it鈥檚 likely that the finished design will be able to traverse some, but not all, off-road routes,鈥� says Bendett. But given that hoverboards are typically capable of carrying an adult passenger, it is entirely plausible that two of them can carry 100 kilograms of cargo or explosives, he says.
Cheap aerial drones, controlled by people wearing virtual reality goggles for a first-person view, have already transformed the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Pierre Schill, the French Army鈥檚 chief of staff, that such devices are now responsible for 80 per cent of battlefield destruction, despite not being in use just a year ago.
It remains to be seen whether the fighting cockroach will be as effective and appear in such large numbers, says Bendett. 鈥淭his diverse experimental space continues to grow,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not clear if this hoverboard UGV will emerge as a standard, or just be one of many designs.鈥�
