Ukrainian war robots with microphones and speakers are listening in and broadcasting surrender messages to Russian troops

Ukraine's developers are equipping war robots with microphones and speakers to allow them to serve as mobile spies against Russia, to urge Russian soldiers to surrender, and to talk with their own comrades who need help.

They're also being used more and more for front-line communication and intelligence gathering.

Robots in Ukraine's rapidly growing fleet often include microphones, which can be used to detect Russian troops and weapon systems nearby.

DevDroid, a Ukrainian developer, recently started putting speakers on its robots that can play live and pre-recorded audio because sometimes "we need to say something to the enemy or maybe to our soldiers," Oleg Fedoryshyn, its director of R&D, told Business Insider.

Fedoryshyn said the speakers also allow Ukrainian soldiers to request ammo or relay critical status updates to their comrades. Robots, he said, can serve as a communication bridge when radios aren't an option. Tools like these have been used to communicate with trapped soldiers and wounded troops being transported out.

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DevDroid says its tech streams audio from the robot's onboard microphones back to the operator, giving them "valuable situational awareness by hearing the environment around the platform," providing more than they can learn from the onboard cameras alone. Cameras can monitor areas and be used to assess the health of a wounded soldier, but terrain, like tall grass, can impact visibility.

This kind of intelligence gathering is a newer role for Ukraine's ground robots. The fight evolves so quickly that tactics and weapons can become outdated within weeks, forcing constant updates. Ukraine's defense industry is always adding new features.

He said that the company can design a new update, test it with a brigade, and roll it out across all deployed systems within a week. It designs its gear in a way that allows it to be updated as easily as possible, "like mobile phones or operating systems."

Ukraine is growing its fleet of war robots while increasingly reassigning missions once carried out by humans to machines. Kyiv, for instance, has said it wants front-line logistics performed entirely by robots.

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