Phantom on the Frontline: Humanoid Robots May Enter the Battlefield Sooner Than Expected
After tests in Ukraine, the American robotics startup Foundation Future Industries is preparing an updated version of the humanoid robot Phantom for repeated tests. Oslo in Ukraine, which has become the main global testing ground for weapons manufacturers, including Western startups.
When the sci-fi classic The Terminator hit theatres in 1984, the idea of autonomous, metal-framed humanoid soldiers marching across battlefields felt like a terrifying, albeit safely distant, fantasy. We watched James Cameron’s vision of the future with a sense of detachment, secure in the knowledge that such technology was decades—if not centuries—away.
But that "distant future" has arrived much sooner than anyone anticipated. According to a recent report by Euronews and CNBC, humanoid combat robots have officially left the realm of science fiction and entered real-world battlefield trials. Foundation Future Industries has begun testing its dual-use humanoid robots in Ukraine.
The company CEO Sankaet Pathak says he expects to begin testing weaponisation use cases for its robots "as early as next year," following the Ukrainian pilot programs.
From Folding Laundry to Navigating Trenches
While the commercial robotics industry has largely focused on training humanoids to fold laundry, make coffee, or work in highly controlled warehouse environments, Foundation is taking a radically different approach.
The San Francisco-based startup, which is linked to the family of US President Donald Trump, believes that humanoid robots should first and foremost solve humanity's most dangerous challenges—specifically, keeping human soldiers out of harm's way in active combat zones.
In February 2026, Foundation delivered two of its Phantom MK-1 humanoid prototypes to Ukraine for closed-door operational testing. Unlike traditional wheeled or tracked unmanned ground vehicles , bipedal humanoids can theoretically traverse the exact same terrain as a human soldier, step over debris, climb stairs, and use tools or structures designed for human hands.
The reality on the ground shows that we are not yet dealing with unstoppable "super-soldiers."
The trials in Ukraine, which focused primarily on supply retrieval and logistics in high-risk zones, highlighted several critical limitations: the Phantom MK-1 can currently carry a payload of only about 20 kilograms (44 lbs), the robot lacks waterproofing, making it highly vulnerable to rain, mud, and the harsh elements of Eastern European trenches. With approximately 20 individual motors powering its movement, keeping balance on uneven combat terrain is incredibly difficult. Additionally, the battery life is currently insufficient for sustained, large-scale military deployments.
At roughly $150,000 per unit, deploying these heavy, high-maintenance machines alongside human troops carries significant financial and operational risks.
The modified Phantom will again go to Ukraine
Foundation CEO Sankaet Pathak remains highly optimistic. The startup is already preparing to send an upgraded model, the Phantom 2, to Ukraine later this year.
Phantom 2 is waterproof and dustproof, with a payload capacity that has risen from roughly 25–30 kilograms in the first version to about 80 kilograms.
Its tolerance for falls, measured in G-force, has increased from 12–15 Gs to nearly 100 Gs, and it carries a 3-kilowatt-hour battery.
The new iteration promises "superhuman" capabilities, including double the payload capacity and improved ruggedization.
A Global Race: Humanoids on the Rise
The deployment of the Phantom MK-1 in Ukraine is not an isolated experiment but the part of a rapidly accelerating global race to automate the frontlines.
Ukraine military & defense the government-led defense tech cluster Brave1 launched a grant competition specifically for domestic developers to build cheap, specialized humanoid platforms for the Armed Forces.
The Brave1 CEO Andriy Hrytsenyuk said, that the key objective of the initiative is to maximize the robotization of the first line of combat and reduce risks for servicemen. It is assumed that new engineering solutions will help the Ukrainian military more effectively hold positions and perform tasks in combat conditions.
US startups and defense contractors are actively testing bipedal and quadrupedal systems to integrate with US military logistics within the next 18 months.
Chinese tech firms are heavily investing in humanoid robotics, focusing on high-volume production for both manufacturing and national security applications.
As these technologies mature, experts argue that autonomous humanoid systems will become a natural extension of the drone warfare we see today.
Proponents point out that robots do not experience fear, fatigue, or post-traumatic stress, offering a way to wage defense without sacrificing human lives.
Opponents, however, raise deep ethical concerns about delegating lethal decision-making to AI-powered machines.
Now there is no specific treaty governing the use of humanoid or autonomous robots on the battlefield. They fall under existing international humanitarian law (IHL), which requires weapons to respect the distinction between combatants and civilians.
Since 2023, the UN has been negotiating a dedicated treaty on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS) through the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, with the UN Secretary-General pushing for a binding ban on weapons that operate without human control by 2026.
Sources: CNBC,Militarnyj, Euronews, Foundation Future Industries,