MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The Russian Defense Ministry has been increasingly using robots for a variety of tasks, from looking for illegal armed groups to mine sweeping, the head of the ministry’s scientific research and robotics center said Wednesday.
"Since 2011, the number of unmanned aerial vehicles deployed by the Russian Defense Ministry has risen ninefold, the use of ground robots tripled and use of underwater robots increased four times," robotics director Sergei Popov said during a press conference at a military park near Moscow.
Unmanned ground vehicles are used to remove mines in Russia’s Chechen and Ingushetia republics in the Caucasus region that have seen years of insurgency, while aerial vehicles are used to spot militants from above, Popov said.
Patriot Park in Kubinka, west of Moscow, hosted a military scientific conference with over a hundred robot prototypes on display from Russia and abroad.
