U.S. Army taps AZAK’s wheel-centric robot for fielding

Denver-based robotics company AZAK has signed an Other Transaction Agreement with the U.S. Army’s Global Tactical Edge Acquisition Directorate, the company said in a statement. AZAK said it is one of the first companies selected for the program directly by soldiers who tested the system in the field.

G-TEAD, established in late 2025, is an Army directorate built to move new technology from demonstration to fielded units in as little as 180 days, using Other Transaction Agreements and soldier-led evaluations instead of the service’s traditional acquisition process. The directorate has already fielded counter-drone systems including the Merops interceptor, built by Perennial Autonomy, and the FD One quadcopter, according to prior reporting.

AZAK builds unmanned ground vehicles around a wheel-centric, chassis-free design. Each wheel functions as a self-contained power unit, housing the motor, motor controller, gearbox, control electronics, battery management system and battery. AZAK CEO Ben Meager has said the design keeps those components below the wheel’s center point, giving the vehicle a low center of gravity and allowing it to climb obstacles rather than route around them.

The Army evaluated AZAK’s platform through 2025 at events including the xTechOverwatch competition and a rotation at the National Training Center. Army and special operations units have looked at the system for resupply runs, casualty evacuation, counter-drone payloads and drone-launch platforms, the company has said.

In a demonstration released in July, AZAK showed a 227 kg (500 pound) robot towing a 24,040 kg (53,000 pound) Palletized Load System truck, plus an additional 454 kg (1,000 pounds) of ammunition, a combined load more than 100 times the robot’s own weight.

AZAK said the new OTA will let the mobility systems it has been testing move into the field on G-TEAD’s timeline. The company did not disclose the contract’s value, the number of systems involved, or a delivery schedule.

G-TEAD Director Col. Christopher Hill has said the directorate is built to compress that kind of transition. In one case involving a counter-drone system in Europe, Hill has said the Army went from identifying the operational need to a signed contract with industry in about 148 days.

AZAK’s demonstrations have centered on the S26 wheel, first shown publicly at DSEI 2025. Meager has said each wheel carries all the components needed to operate independently, letting the company scale a vehicle’s torque by adding wheels rather than redesigning a drivetrain. The company has said this allows the same wheel system to be configured into different vehicle types without a full redesign.