Zen Technologies Launches AI-Powered Robot for Global Defense Market

By Jim Morris, Warrior Vice President, News 

Zen Technologies and its subsidiary AI Turing Technologies have teamed up to create the automated quadruped called Prahasta, a powerful warrior from the Hindu epic the Ramayana.

According to news reports, Prahasta uses light detection and ranging (LIDAR) and reinforcement learning to understand and create 3D terrain mapping. That capability can be used for mission planning, navigation and threat assessment.

A video released by Zen Technologies shows Prahasta at work (Prahasta (zentechnologies.com). The robot is seen multiple levels of stairs, carrying an assault rifle on its back. It can go over obstacles up to 16 inches high, and jump over a small gap. Zen says the robot can lift a soldier weighing almost 180 pounds. Finally, the video shows the robot “auto-resurrecting” after being knocked over.

The company also unveiled several other products. One of them, Barbarik-URCWS (Prahasta (zentechnologies.com) ), is described as the world’s lightest remote-controlled weapon station. It’s designed for both ships and ground vehicles.

“These innovations represent a significant advancement in autonomous defense operations,” said Ashok Atluri, Zen’s chairman and managing director. “We believe the launch of these products will raise awareness around the need to integrate advanced robotics into combat and reconnaissance missions.”

Zen is best known for developing ant-drone systems and combat simulators. The company says it has shipped more than a thousand simulators and training systems around the world.

Earlier this year, India joined the US and China with its first robot “dogs.” These were developed by India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and are actually known as MULES – Multi-Utility Legged Equipment.