ARX Robotics bags €9M to develop unmanned military vehicles

ARX Robotics, a manufacturer of scalable robotic systems for mass deployment in both defence and commercial applications, has raised €9M in seed funding. Funding was led by the NATO Innovation Fund and supported by Project A Ventures and Discovery Ventures. 

The new funding round will be used to expand the team and scale production capabilities in Europe. ARX Robotic systems are looking to fill Europe's gap in autonomous unmanned systems to protect troops in mission-critical tasks.

One of its flagship products is the unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) series which can be easily outfitted for a variety of defence scenarios including live fire training and simulation, transport and medical evacuation, or specialised sensor applications in reconnaissance missions. The modularity enables a large variety of mission-specific use cases offering flexibility with add-on and payload solutions.

"The armies of Western democracies are not prepared for robotic warfare. To significantly enhance the capabilities of our armed forces and serve as a force multiplier, an interconnected critical mass of autonomous unmanned ground systems is required. These systems must be simple to manufacture in a decentralized manner and deployable in critical mass. ARX is committed to contributing to European technological sovereignty by scaling up the production of these systems, generating software-defined systems, and developing adaptive hardware to meet the demand for robust and autonomous unmanned systems", commented Marc Wietfeld, CEO and Co-Founder of ARX.

GEREON robots are already in service and tested with several European armies, among them the armed forces of Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Hungary as well as Ukraine. In training scenarios, they have introduced a new dimension of situational awareness for soldiers. Battlefield experiences are continuously incorporated into the development cycles. 

"We are honored to support ARX and to help them scale production across Europe. As the need to prepare for a future of unmanned warfare continues, ground autonomy remains a difficult problem to solve. Informed by insights from serving in the armed forces, the team at ARX has developed a leading, cost-effective, modular ground system that can be mass-produced and easily deployed in defence, humanitarian crises, and beyond.” said Chris O’Connor, NATO Innovation Fund.