Microrobots, Water Cannons, and Robotic Arms: The First Innovations from Ukraine’s Unified Demining R&D Hub
Maksym Tkachenko, Co-founder of the Public Union Ukrainian Demining Cluster
In March 2025, a united coalition in Ukraine officially launched a national R&D hub dedicated to humanitarian demining. This platform serves as a center for developing and scaling innovative solutions aimed at accelerating mine clearance across Ukrainian territories. The initiative was spearheaded by the Ukrainian Demining Cluster in partnership with several key organizations, including the Ukrainian National Association for Humanitarian Demining and the Ukrainian Association for Demining and Recovery.
The R&D hub unites a community of innovators, market operators, scientists, and demining professionals. Its mission is to develop and modernize IT-based solutions, provide sustainable funding for promising innovations, and foster an incubator for equipment manufacturing projects and testing of new technologies.
Despite its relatively short time in operation, the hub has already delivered several breakthrough solutions that are being adopted by demining actors on the ground. These include:
• Ukraine’s First Demining Market – a niche online marketplace and showroom dedicated to humanitarian demining. It allows all stakeholders to easily offer their products or purchase specialized equipment in just a few clicks. In one place, users can find and order robots, probes, detectors, protective gear, and other essential tools.
• Custom Airless Tire Manufacturing for Robotic Platforms – a proprietary production network for airless wheels tailored for unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) and robotic platforms. Customers can design their own wheels using an online configurator, selecting the desired dimensions, structure, and components. The customized design is then sent directly to production. Products can be ordered individually or in bulk.
• A New Class of Microrobots – portable robotic drones designed for sappers, capable of carrying interchangeable payloads. These microrobots act as remote assistants for demining missions, extending the operator’s reach into hazardous environments.
• Hydraulic Water Cannon Module – drone-mounted devices capable of remotely neutralizing caseless munitions and improvised explosive devices (IEDs). The system works by firing a cartridge that generates a powerful hydraulic shockwave — a focused jet of water that disables or destroys the explosive device before it can detonate. According to developers, the platform can also integrate cameras, sensors, and other mission-specific tools.
• Robotic Arm “Deminer’s Hand” – a robotic assistant for remote manipulation and analysis of hazardous objects. Easily mountable on the hub’s mini-drone, it features interchangeable “fingers” such as claws, knives, or probes. The arm can lift, rotate, and inspect suspicious items, and it can use built-in sensors — chemical, radiation, or others — for on-the-spot diagnostics. Operators control the system via tablet or laptop, with AI assistance supporting critical decisions such as determining grip force. With the “Deminer’s Hand,” sappers can operate safely in collapsed buildings, basements, vehicle wrecks, chemically contaminated zones, under fire, in rough terrain, dense vegetation, or even underwater.
To advance these technologies and spark new solutions, the Ukrainian Demining Cluster, together with the National Technical University of Ukraine “Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute,” is hosting an innovation marathon called “Deminer’s Hands”. The challenge is open to engineers, researchers, startups, robotics developers, and technical students. In July, the most promising concepts will be selected for development and scaling.
Our short-term goal is to create a multifunctional robotic assistant for sappers and accelerate the adoption of innovations that will redefine demining — not only in Ukraine but globally. Step by step, the Cluster is moving toward that future.
