Today’s AI weapons are a far cry from the sci-fi scenes of Terminators ravaging battlefields. But that scenario may not be as far-fetched as it sounds. A company with ties to the Trump family is developing autonomous humanoid robots for use in both heavy industrial environments and military applications. And those robots could end up being used in Ukraine.
Foundation Future Industries, a startup founded in 2024 in San Francisco, has a common goal with many similar robotics companies: to create machines that can take on the demanding, and dangerous, roles performed by humans.
CNBC he says Sankaet Pathak, the company's CEO, said these dangerous roles include missions in conflict zones, and his company has plans to scale production to thousands of units this year. Frontline testing will begin with the US military within the next 18 months.
The company's ambitions to use its robots for military purposes have moved beyond the design stage. Earlier this year, the Future Industries Foundation sent two of the Phantom MK-1 units to Ukraine for a pilot demonstration, representing what it called the first deployment of a humanoid robot in a combat theater.
Several cutting-edge technologies that have never been used in active warfare have appeared during Ukraine's battle with Russia, such as advanced artificial intelligence drones and robotic dogs. So if humanoid robots become a regular sight on the future battlefield, it wouldn't be surprising if they appeared for the first time in this conflict.
Pathak said that MK-1 tests in Ukraine have demonstrated their capabilities to perform supply deliveries, but they are a far cry from the T-1000 killing machines.
The robots can currently only carry about 20 kilograms, are not waterproof, and do not have sufficient battery life to be deployed at scale.
The US is not the only country testing military applications of humanoid robots. China, which leads in manufacturing scale, cost, supplier depth and speed of commercialization – if not in AI – has published reports on the machines’ capabilities for warfare.
With AI agents bringing fully autonomous weapons closer to reality and military vehicles now controlled by Artificial Intelligence, concerns are growing. The first generations of humanoid robots may still have problems on the battlefield, but where they might go is a worrying thought.
Although the press releases will range from very select to rare, I said I'd pass...because sometimes the editors hide.
