PEO Soldier just released this image with the following caption:

At a recent visit to Project Manager Soldier Lethality in Picatinny Arsenal, NJ, PEO Soldier BG Chris Schneider operated multiple emerging Remote Weapon Systems and Robotic platforms from Product Director Crew Served Weapons and DEVCOM Armaments Center. Pictured below, BG Schneider controls a Quadruped Unmanned Ground Vehicle (Q-UGV) with the lightweight Remote Weapon System SPARROW. Product Director Crew Served Weapons and DEVCOM AC have been actively supporting the ongoing Human Machine Integrated Formations (HMIF) effort which focuses on quickly getting deployable prototypes of autonomous and robotic systems into Infantry Brigade Combat Teams and Heavy Formations.

I’m kind of surprised to see SPARROW out in the open. In the past, it’s been pretty much hushed tones when discussed and no photos allowed. The Quadruped Unmanned Ground Vehicle (Q-UGV) is a Vision60 by Ghost Robotics which can be used for a wide variety of tasks including reconnaissance and surveillance, communications relay, and even lethality.

Ultimately, the robot is a platform and the various payloads are added based upon the desired effect. Used in Human/Machine teams, the real advantage robots offer is that they go places we don’t want to put humans due to threats.

Developed by the Army, SPARROW is a remote weapon station which allows the mounting of various existing weapons to robots like the XM7. The gimbal-based systems seems to me to still be a bit bulky. Hopefully, they will continue to refine it. Alternatively, perhaps they will develop dedicated weapons which better integrate with the various robot hosts.