Our ELROB 2026 robot, an outdoor logistics build. Follow Me is the tether module. The cargo box, the Outdoor Navigation Package and the custom colour are separate options.
Follow Me
Clip in. Walk. It follows.
Follow Me connects the operator to the robot with a physical tether instead of a radio link. Clip the endpoint to a belt loop, harness or pack strap with the carabiner, or just hold it, and walk. It is light enough to clip to clothing and sealed against rain and dust. Two encoders measure distance and angle continuously, and the robot tracks the endpoint directly behind you.
There is no radio in the follow loop. Nothing to jam, nothing to spoof, nothing to lose when the operator steps behind a wall. Following keeps working in darkness, dust, fog and falling snow, where camera and LiDAR based person-following degrades or stops.
Follow Me is a complete package on its own. It carries its own safety layer and does not need the navigation package to work. Load the robot and it carries your gear, up to 120 kg on Panther or 65 kg on Lynx. Add the Outdoor Navigation Package and the same walk becomes a taught route the robot replays without an operator.
Follow Me is available through our Field Evaluation Program rather than general order. The system is built and working. We ran it at ELROB 2026 to teach the route for a live competition run, in competition conditions, in June 2026.
We are placing it with a small number of selected operators to validate it across terrain, climates and mission profiles we cannot reproduce ourselves. Participants get the hardware early, direct access to the engineers who built it, and real influence over the release specification. In exchange we ask for structured feedback from actual use.
Commercial terms are agreed individually, because what each participant contributes differs. Tell us your use case and we will tell you what taking part would look like for you.
Figures below are measured on current hardware and may still change before general release.
120 kg
carried on Panther, 65 kg on Lynx
0
radio links in the follow loop
5 m
tether working radius
1.5 m/s
maximum following speed
Why a tether
Person-following is a solved problem right up until the conditions get bad, and outdoors the conditions get bad.
Vision-based following needs to see the operator. It degrades at night, in dust, in fog, in falling snow, and when the operator's silhouette changes because they put on a pack or a coat.
Radio-based following, whether UWB tags, GNSS trackers or RF beacons, needs a link. Links can be jammed, spoofed, saturated, or blocked by terrain and structures. Where that matters, the link is a liability.
A tether is a physical measurement. Distance and angle come off two encoders. There is no signal to lose, no image to interpret and no bandwidth to contend for.
The trade-off is real: the operator is physically connected to the robot, and the working radius is the length of the tether. For the load-carrying missions this is built for, that costs nothing, because the operator is walking the route anyway.
How it works
- Clip in. Attach the tether endpoint to a belt loop, harness or pack strap with the carabiner, or hold it in your hand.
- Walk. The robot keeps the tether taut, so you feel a light constant tension as you go. Two encoders measure the tether's extension and bearing, and the robot drives to stay directly behind you.
- Stop when you stop. The robot holds a standoff distance behind the operator rather than closing on you.
- Optionally, teach. With the Outdoor Navigation Package fitted, the walked path is recorded as a drivable route the robot can replay autonomously, as many times as the mission requires.
Safety
Follow Me carries its own safety layer. It does not borrow sensors from the navigation package.
Force detection on the tether. The system monitors tension continuously. Because the tether is already held taut for following, an abnormal force is detectable straight away and the robot stops. This is a physical measurement, so it works in any visibility.
Integrated depth camera. An onboard depth camera watches the path ahead and stops the robot when an obstacle enters it. The camera is used only for this obstacle stop and plays no part in following the operator.
That split matters in bad conditions. Following never degrades, because it runs entirely off the tether. Camera-based obstacle detection does degrade in heavy fog, dense dust and falling snow, the way any depth camera does. In those conditions the force detection on the tether remains the reliable stop, and the operator should pick the path accordingly.
Both platforms also keep their own hardware E-stop on the robot, independent of any package.
Follow Me provides operational safety functions. It is not a certified functional-safety system and carries no performance level or safety integrity level rating. The operator chooses the path and stays responsible for picking a route the robot can drive. Deployments around other people require your own site risk assessment.
Specifications
| Following principle | Mechanical tether, two encoders measuring distance and angle |
| Tether working radius | 5 m |
| Maximum following speed | 1.5 m/s |
| Standoff distance | 1.5 m to 3 m, configurable |
| Operator interface | Tether endpoint with a carabiner. Clips to a belt loop, harness or pack strap, or is held in hand |
| Obstacle detection | Force detection on the tether, plus an integrated depth camera |
| Ingress protection | IP66 |
| Mounting | Front of the platform, alongside the Outdoor Navigation Package |
| Load carried | Up to 120 kg on Panther, 65 kg on Lynx |
| Platforms | Panther, Lynx |
| Works standalone | Yes. The navigation package is optional and adds route teach-in and autonomous replay |
| Availability | Field Evaluation Program. Selected operators, not general order. Terms agreed individually |
| Status | Patent pending |
Module weight is not published yet, because the mechanics are still being refined. It is light, and the figure goes here once it is settled.
Field record
At ELROB 2026, the European Land Robot Trial, we used Follow Me to teach the route for the Transport-Mule scenario: roughly 300 m between two points in non-urban hill terrain in Switzerland, alongside 21 teams including Diehl Defence, Rheinmetall, L3Harris and TNO.
The operator walked the course once on foot. Panther then shuttled it autonomously using the Outdoor Navigation Package. One full cycle completed with one terrain-related safety intervention on a steep section, and a second cycle was stopped by a barricaded gate, which was outside the scope of the trial run.
The same logistics configuration carrying cargo during the Mule run.
Typical use
- Dismounted load carriage. The robot carries equipment, water or tooling behind a walking team.
- Route teach-in. The fastest way to give a robot a drivable route is to walk it once. No CAD, no survey, no waypoint editing.
- Degraded visual environments. Night work, dust, smoke, fog, snow.
- Environments where emissions matter. The follow function adds no radio signature of its own.
Combines with
| Outdoor Navigation Package | Turns a walked route into an autonomously replayable mission. This is the pairing we field-tested at ELROB 2026 |
| Configuration options | Cargo boxes, gates, raised covers and mounting plates for the load you actually carry |
Apply to the Field Evaluation Program
We are not selling Follow Me to everyone yet. We are choosing a small number of operators to run it in conditions we cannot create in Poland, and we would rather get that group right than get it large.
You are a good fit if you move loads on foot over real terrain, on a route you walk regularly, and you are willing to report back on what breaks and what annoys you. Defence, forestry, construction, survey, utilities, agriculture and search and rescue are the profiles we are most interested in.
What you get: hardware ahead of general release, direct access to the engineers who designed it, and influence over the release specification. What we ask: structured feedback from real use, and permission to fix things based on it.
Terms are set case by case rather than from a price list. Some participants buy, some evaluate on other arrangements, and it depends on the environment you can give us access to.
If you need an operator-following robot in production today, say so in the form. Panther and Lynx are shipping and the Outdoor Navigation Package is orderable now, so there may be a way to cover your case with what already exists.