Swarmbotics founders plan to bring them to the battlefield

The creators of Robotics Swambotics became "obsessed with robot swarms" and now intend to deploy them in combat. 

According to Aria Alamalhodaei on August 19, 2024, at 12:29 PM, There aren't many fully autonomous systems used in combat, but a firm wants to alter that by developing robotic systems that leverage cooperative behavior to increase soldiers' tactical advantage and intelligence. Known as "swarms," those systems are essentially groups of self-governing robots with the ability to synchronize their movements. Science fiction has long been associated with swarm robotics, but today, Swarmbotics AI is coming out of the shadows to realize this dream. The company is creating the ANTS (Attritable, Networked, Tactical Swarm) product ecosystem, which has the potential to revolutionize warfare.

Stephen Houghton and Drew Watson, who met while working at the autonomous trucking business Embark Trucks, where Watson headed product operations and Houghton was COO, started Swarmbotics last summer. Their history with robotic systems is far more extensive: Houghton was an officer in the Marine Corps and one of the first workers of Cruise, the business that makes autonomous vehicles that General Motors currently owns. As the company expanded from around 40 to about 3,000 workers as of late December, he remained with it and finally rose to the position of Vice President of Global Markets. After that, he went on to oversee the robotics and autonomous car divisions of Amazon Web Services. Prior to joining NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and eventually heading the software development of the spacecraft, Watson, however, spent a considerable amount of time at the CIA.

Research on swarm robots is still in its infancy. A large portion of that study has been conducted in academic hallways rather than on actual battlefields, and it focuses on UAV swarm behavior. Drones have been utilized extensively in the battle against Russia in locations like Ukraine, however most of these systems are controlled remotely by people and don't behave in an autonomously cooperative manner. Houghton agrees that swarms—both aerial and ground—may change the game. However, they provide very distinct advantages and challenges: ground-based robots can typically stay on the field longer and can carry greater weight, but airborne robots are easier to navigate. Swarmbotics is concentrating on the latter area, initially launching two platforms: the larger Haul ANT autonomous ATV, which is powered by hybrid electricity.

Almost all of the just over $4 million that Swarmbotics has raised from LMNT Ventures, Soma Capital, Quiet Capital, and Silent Ventures has gone into engineering. Though it eventually intends to sell robots to commercial enterprises as well, the company's current focus is on keeping DOD procurement personnel aware of increasingly advanced technology.