Ukrainian military adopts gaming tech to control remote turrets

Ukrainians are striving to enhance their security and compensate for the Russians' numerical advantage through technology. They are using gaming equipment, which significantly simplifies the operation of remotely controlled turrets. We explain how this works.

The set in the video below appears to be field tests of the mass-produced remotely controlled turret "ShaBlya," operated using the globally known portable console Steam Deck.

Remotely controlled turrets are very useful during defence, as they allow for the "supervision" of a large area by a much smaller number of soldiers if, for example, one supervisor is in charge of several turrets.

The second advantage is the increased protection of soldiers and the ability, for instance, to safely retreat from trenches under the protection of covering fire. It is worth noting that, for example, machine gun positions during firing are quite easily detectable and become a priority target for destruction by mortar fire, artillery, or aviation using, for example, guided FAB bombs.

In this case, the ability to control a machine gun with a supply of several hundred rounds from a distance of, for example, 55 or 100 metres further away dramatically increases the survival chances of the operators. Another advantage is the ability to create ambushes.

Improvised or factory-made solutions are on the frontline in Ukraine, and they are also expected to be enhanced with artificial intelligence algorithms. However, all these solutions have in common using well-known controllers for gamers. There have been DualShock 4 v2 pads from PlayStation, but the most popular recently seems to be Steam Deck consoles.

The reason for their use is straightforward. If someone were proficient in FPS games on a controller, they would easily handle eliminating real-life opponents on the frontline using "ShaBlya" or something similar.