Russian 13-Foot Battle Robot Concept Showcased By Arms Manufacturer

Russia’s famous arms manufacturer Kalashnikov Concern has unveiled a giant battle robot concept at the Army-2018 International forum near Moscow.

The robot — a part of several military projects put up on display at the expo — is a futuristic mechanized walker that looks just like a concept from science fiction. It stands 13 feet tall and is aimed at assisting Russian troops with a range of engineering and combat-related tasks, the weapons maker said on its website.

Though Kalashnikov, which is globally known for its powerful assault rifles, didn’t reveal specific capabilities of the guided walker, including how much weight it could carry or how fast it could move, the manufacturer did release some pictures from the expo, showcasing its humongous profile.

From the looks of it, the machine looks very similar to AT-ST from Star Wars and the ED-209 robot featured in the original Robocop movie. The torso of the machine sits on the heavier side with a massive cabin, where a human could go in and control the machine, while the metal arms and legs look pretty lean.

The long arms of the machine end with pincer-shaped hands, but there are no visible signs of weapons or tools for engineering or combat solutions. Also, while the robot looks pretty humongous, it doesn’t appear to be operational.

Russian news agency RT released a video of the bot, but it didn’t appear to move in it. The same report noted that the battle robot is still in the early phases of development and chances are that we might see its upgraded iteration around next year.

However, Kalashnikov has not given a word on when the functional variant of the machine would come into action. The manufacturer has promised to showcase the technologies going into it in 2019.

According to Popular Mechanics, battle robots like the one seen here could offer major combat advantages by giving the controller of the vehicle better visibility of the battlefield as well as the ability to move swiftly through an area filled with obstacles like junked vehicles or damaged roads.

However, despite being part of science fiction for decades not many functional battlefield walkers have been developed. This is partially due to the engineering problem created by the machine’s torso. A bipedal walker should be able to balance the weight of its entire controller cabin on two legs. If not, it could trip over and be a liability on the battlefield.

Apart from this, Kalashnikov showcased utility vehicles for the military at ARMY-2018, while defense manufacturer Rostec demonstrated color-changing camouflage for hiding military troops and weapons in plain sight. The expo started on Aug. 21 and will run till Aug. 26.