A veteran Donbass commander has given his impressions of the Bratishka (lit. ‘Little Brother’), a new robotic ambulance designed to evacuate wounded troops from the battlefield.
“Today, I took part in field testing of the Bratishka unmanned tracked vehicle, created by engineer enthusiasts from Kazan. This miniature tractor device can be used in real combat operations and various situations, such as mining/demining, storming enemy positions using an automatic rifle or ATGM installed onboard, etc. It can deliver weapons, conduct reconnaissance, engage in electronic warfare, fight against enemy drones, evacuate the wounded, deliver ammunition to frontline positions, etc., depending on troops’ needs and its onboard attachments,” Donbass militia volunteer commander Viktor Anosov said, speaking to Russian media about the design.
The Bratishka is the brainchild of a Russian robotics enthusiast and engineer named Konstantin, who has been working on the robotic transporter with his 15-year-old son Vyacheslav, and was inspired to create the robot after friends participating in the special military operations told him about the difficulties they would face evacuating wounded from the line of fire during periods of enemy shelling.
The unmanned vehicle is 1.2 meters long and weighs about 200 kilograms, is fitted with a camera and has a carrying capacity of up to 150 kilograms. It has a five hour endurance time, and can travel up to 10 kilometers per hour.
Building the prototype took two months, and Konstantin spent some two million rubles (about US$22,550) of his own money on the project. The father and son tested the vehicle near their family home, which includes geography that’s similar to the steppe-heavy frontline regions.
Konstantin hopes to eventually add a manipulator arm to the vehicle in the future to be able to use the Bratishka to save even unconscious fallen soldiers, and to equip it with an intercom that an army doctor can use to determine an injured trooper’s condition and provide first aid advice.
In an interview with Russian media last fall, Konstantin said it would take a month to prepare the Bratishka for full-scale testing, after which it would take between three and six months to start mass production.