Ukrainians leverage gaming tech to control remote turrets in war
Ukrainians are striving to enhance their security and compensate for the Russians' numerical advantage through technology. They are using gaming equipment, which significantly simplifies the operation of remotely controlled turrets. We explain how this works.
6:21 AM EDT, July 26, 2024
The set visible in the video below appears to be field tests of the mass-produced remotely controlled turret "ShaBlya," which is controlled using the globally known portable console Steamdeck.
Remotely controlled turrets and steamdeck in war
Remotely controlled turrets are very useful during defense, as they allow for the "supervision" of a large area by a much smaller number of soldiers if, for example, one supervisor is in charge of several turrets.
The second advantage is the increased protection of soldiers and the ability, for instance, to safely retreat from trenches under the protection of covering fire. It is worth noting that machine gun positions during firing are quite easily detectable and become a priority target for destruction by mortar fire, artillery, or aviation using guided FAB bombs.
In this context, the ability to control a machine gun with a supply of several hundred rounds from a distance of, for example, 165 or 330 feet greatly increases the operators' survival chances. Another advantage is the ability to create ambushes.
Improvised or factory-made solutions are on the frontline in Ukraine, and they are also expected to be enhanced with artificial intelligence algorithms. However, all these solutions have one thing in common: they use controllers well-known to gamers. There have been DualShock 4 v2 pads from PlayStation, but the most popular recently are Steamdeck consoles.
The reason for their use is straightforward. If someone is proficient in FPS games on a controller, they would easily handle eliminating real-life opponents on the frontline using "ShaBlya" or something similar.
