Ukrainian company DevDroid said its Droid TW 7.62 and heavier Droid TW 12.7 unmanned ground vehicles took part in a training scenario with Italian Army troops, working alongside the ULISSE robotic platform of Italian company ABET HTS, according to UNITED24 Media, Militarnyi and Forbes Ukraine on October 1, 2026. All three based their reports on a DevDroid press release; DevDroid had posted about the trial on September 29. Lens found no statement from the Italian Army or ABET HTS about it.

When and where

DevDroid’s release, as carried by those outlets, names no exercise, date or place. Defence Blog reported on October 1 that the robots were demonstrated during the Italian Army’s Aegis 26 exercise on September 17 at the Monte Romano range in Viterbo province, north of Rome. Italian coverage of Aegis 26, which President Sergio Mattarella and Defence Minister Guido Crosetto attended, describes remotely piloted ground vehicles and quadruped “robot dogs” but does not name DevDroid, ABET HTS or ULISSE. UNITED24 said footage of the Ukrainian and Italian robots operating together was published on Instagram by the Quirinal Palace, the Italian president’s office; Lens did not see that post.

What DevDroid says the robots did

  • Supported infantry in an assault on positions, worked with artillery, evacuated casualties and took part in a further advance (UNITED24, Militarnyi).
  • Were connected to a NATO situational-awareness system, sending their coordinates and live video, and were controlled remotely over a tactical network. The system was not named.
  • DevDroid specialists trained Italian personnel on the vehicles’ control interface and operating principles.

The release does not say what weapons were fitted during the trial. Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence said in April 2025 that the first Droid TW models were built around a 12.7 mm Browning machine gun, that the range was later extended to a 7.62 mm version, and that the platform was codified for the Armed Forces in December 2024.

The Italian partner

In a company profile for an EU–Ukraine business summit in April 2026, ABET HTS (ABET High Tech Solutions S.r.l., of Bra) describes itself as a maker of composite and ballistic panels and mentions modular unmanned ground platforms. Lens found no published specifications for ULISSE.

Joint venture

DevDroid and ABET HTS have signed a memorandum of cooperation and are preparing documents for the next phase, which includes establishing a joint venture, according to UNITED24, Militarnyi and Forbes Ukraine. The signing date and terms were not disclosed.

What DevDroid said

In UNITED24’s rendering of the release: “For us, it is important that Ukrainian robotic systems can operate alongside solutions developed by our European partners.” And: “The next step is to deepen technological and manufacturing cooperation with our Italian partners.” No DevDroid executive was named.

Related: Italy’s 2026 military robot trials; Ukraine’s Third Army Corps says its drones dropped armed ground robots behind Russian lines.

Sources and notes

Sources: UNITED24 Media, October 1, 2026; Militarnyi, October 1; Forbes Ukraine, October 1 (Ukrainian); Defence Blog, October 1; forzearmate.org, September 22 (Italian); Infodifesa, September 18 (Italian); ABET HTS profile, EU–Ukraine Business Summit; Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, April 25, 2025. Notes: every detail of the trial comes from DevDroid; the interoperability result is the company’s claim. Only Defence Blog places the robots at Aegis 26. Lens could not find an ABET HTS website or statement. Thumbnail photo: a tracked Ukrainian ground robot of the 57th Motorized Brigade, July 2026, whose weapon station carries small DevDroid and TW-12.7 nameplates, General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; cropped. Illustrative: it was taken in Ukraine, not during the Italian training.

Image: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (CC BY 4.0), via Wikimedia Commons.