Swarmer, Inc, a drone autonomy software company which has supported more than 100,000 real-world combat missions in Ukraine since April 2024, has announced plans to expand its advanced autonomy solutions in Japan with support from Rakuten Group, Inc.
Rakuten Group has provided consistent support to Ukraine throughout the war, demonstrating its commitment to the country’s people, economy and post-war reconstruction. As part of these ongoing efforts, Rakuten will now support the introduction of Swarmer’s technological offerings to the Japanese market. These activities will accelerate Swarmer’s entry into Japan’s advanced unmanned systems ecosystem.
“Japan is one of the world’s most sophisticated robotics environments and our long-term vision is to bring interoperable, high-assurance autonomy to partners who operate at that level,” said Serhii Kupriienko, Global CEO of Swarmer. “Rakuten’s reach, reputation and understanding of Japan’s technology priorities make them the ideal partner to scale advanced autonomy and multi-vehicle coordination across the region.”
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Swarmer has successfully demonstrated an autonomous “seek and hit” operation using eight-inch attritable drones.
Rakuten has a significant presence in Ukraine, with Rakuten Viber boasting a 98% penetration rate. Additionally, Rakuten launched the Ukraine Humanitarian Crisis Emergency Relief Fund through its online donation platform, Rakuten Clutch Special Charity Fund, and held a t-shirt donation drive to support Ukraine that raised more than 1.3 billion yen. In January 2024, Rakuten announced the establishment of a new office in Kyiv.
The collaboration positions Swarmer to support research, security, infrastructure, and industry applications in Japan, building on the country’s leadership in robotics and advanced manufacturing.
Swarmer™ is a defense technology company that specializes in vendor-agnostic technologies that address critical operational challenges faced by modern military forces. Swarmer’s primary mission areas include autonomous swarm coordination, multi-domain unmanned systems integration, AI-powered collaborative autonomy, and command and control software for distributed operations. The company’s primary customer base consists of drone manufacturers who license Swarmer’s software for integration with their hardware platforms. Swarmer’s technology has been rigorously validated in real-world kinetic environments and was first deployed in combat operations in Ukraine in April 2024. Since then, it has completed more than 100,000 combat missions, generating terabytes of proprietary data that informs its machine-learning models and enables the replication of advanced pilot performance at scale. With headquarters in Austin, Texas, Swarmer has offices in the U.S, Ukraine, Poland and Estonia.
Rakuten Group, Inc. (TSE: 4755) is a global technology leader in services that empower individuals, communities, businesses and society. Founded in Tokyo in 1997 as an online marketplace, Rakuten has expanded to offer services in e-commerce, fintech, digital content and communications to 2 billion members around the world. The Rakuten Group has around 30,000 employees, and operations in 30 countries and regions.
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AloJapan.com