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Ukrainian Troops Asked for More Mobility—DevDroid Put Its MK-19 Robot on Wheels
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Ukraine’s DevDroid has unveiled a new wheeled version of its MK-19-armed combat robot, redesigning the platform in response to military requests for greater mobility across different terrain, seasons, and sections of the front.
The Droid TW 40 was presented at the Demo Day TFUA “Designed for the Future: Ukrainian Defense Technologies in Action” military exhibition, attended by a UNITED24 Media correspondent.
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DevDroid had already developed a reconnaissance-and-strike UGV equipped with an MK-19 automatic grenade launcher, but the earlier system used a tracked chassis. The new model retains the heavy weapon station while moving it onto a wheeled platform.
A company representative stated that Ukrainian military personnel requested the change to make the robot more mobile and better suited to varied battlefield conditions. The wheeled chassis is intended to travel more efficiently across different sectors of the front and adapt to seasonal changes in terrain.
Droid TW 40 combines the wheeled platform with the Wolly 40 remotely operated weapon station, adapted for the 40mm MK-19 grenade launcher, and DevDroid’s universal Droid Box control system.
The robot is designed to engage personnel and firing positions in open terrain, exposed trenches, behind natural obstacles, and inside fortified positions. It can also conduct remote surveillance and battlefield reconnaissance.
According to DevDroid, the platform can cross off-road terrain, mud, sand, snow, rocky ground, and shallow water obstacles.
Its standard equipment includes a thermal-imaging camera, an integrated ballistic computer, and a coordinate-based targeting system. Operators can control the robot from a protected location, allowing it to deliver heavy grenade fire without placing Ukrainian troops directly in the engagement zone.
The Droid TW 40 has already been officially codified, an important step toward its deployment by Ukraine’s Armed Forces.
Previously, ground vehicles of the company proved effective in different scenarios across the Ukrainian frontlines.
Ukraine’s 33rd Separate Assault Regiment carried out a combat assault using armed ground robots and drones, destroying a Russian position without sending Ukrainian infantry into the assault zone.
The operation combined two Droid TW-12.7 unmanned ground vehicles with reconnaissance and strike UAVs. A specialized technical team was deployed to plan and execute the mission.
In another case, an armed Ukrainian ground robot that was equipped with a Wolly 7.62 remotely operated weapon station was carried across the water by an uncrewed maritime platform, landed on the Russian-held Kinburn Spit, and sent into combat—an operation the military described as the first known mission of its kind anywhere in the world.
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