Ukrainian-American Startup Launches World’s First AI Assistant for Battlefield Repairs
Ukrainian-American startup NeoLens has unveiled the world's first offline AI assistant for diagnosing and repairing armored vehicles that is already being used on the front lines by Ukrainian mechanics.
The Gaze reports this, referring to Mezha.
NeoLens, a deep-tech startup with Ukrainian roots founded at Stanford, has launched a unique system that helps the military quickly find malfunctions and repair armored vehicles right on the battlefield. The main advantage of the tool is its complete autonomy, as the AI works without the internet, which is critically important in combat conditions.
The technology is already being implemented in dozens of repair battalions across the front line and is most actively used to service Humvees, MaxxPros, and M113s. According to the Ukrainian military, the system significantly reduces repair time, increases the safety of mechanics, and extends the service life of equipment.
The startup was founded by Ostap Korkuna, an American of Ukrainian descent, and James Leo, graduates of the Lean Launchpad and Hacking for Defense programs. According to them, NeoLens was created in response to the real needs of the military, identified after hundreds of interviews.
The system provides step-by-step diagnostics, allows for expert-level repairs, and is provided to the Ukrainian army free of charge.
The team is working on expanding the system's capabilities, in particular, the introduction of multimodal diagnostics using photos and videos, and plans to scale the solution for civilian use and international defense markets.
AI has long been part of Ukraine's defense, performing a wide range of tasks, from reconnaissance to demining. For example, the Danish-Ukrainian startup Dropla Tech has raised €2.4 million to develop the BLUE EYES and DROPLA VISION systems, which detect mines and other threats on the battlefield in real time. The company that operates in Ukraine and Denmark uses data from BRAVE1 and its own training ground to train algorithms, and its technologies are already undergoing field tests in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
In addition, Ukraine is the first country in the world to regularly use swarms of drones with artificial intelligence capable of coordinating actions and making decisions without constant operator control. Systems Swarmer significantly reduce the number of personnel required to control drones, increase the efficiency of operations, and prepare for large-scale attacks involving more than a hundred drones.
As The Gaze previously reported, French company Atreyd plans to deploy Ukraine's first “drone wall” to protect cities and critical infrastructure from Russian attacking UAVs.
Read more on The Gaze: How AI Is Transforming Modern Warfare: Lessons from Ukraine’s Battlefield