The Ukrainian army has added a new recruit to its ranks: a robot tasked with extracting elderly civilians from war zones. Footage released by Ukraine's 3rd Army Corps shows the moment Antonina Horuzha, an elderly woman attempting to flee her wrecked village, was rescued by a machine.
The Ukrainian army first spotted Horuzha using a drone, then dispatched a ground robot - emblazoned with the words "grandma, sit down" - to her aid. Drone footage released on Saturday captured the surreal encounter. "I thought I wouldn't make it and didn't have the strength," Horuzha told BBC correspondent Jessica Parker.
Ground drones have become a key tool for rescuing or supplying soldiers along Ukraine's frontlines. This particular mission, however, swapped a soldier for a grandmother, proving that robots can now add "elderly extraction" to their growing list of résumé bullet points.