An unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) is a vehicle that operates while in contact with the ground without an onboard human presence. UGVs can be used for many applications where it is inconvenient, dangerous, expensive, or impossible to use an onboard human operator. Typically, the vehicle has sensors to observe the environment, and autonomously controls its behavior or uses a remote human operator to control the vehicle via teleoperation.
The UGV is the land-based counterpart to unmanned aerial vehicles, unmanned underwater vehicles and unmanned surface vehicles. Unmanned robotics are being actively developed for both civilian and military use.