China may be exploring the idea of deploying humanoids on battlefields

A representative picture of humanoid.China is accelerating research into the military use of humanoid robots, with the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) testing the technology against battlefield requirements and exploring how such machines could operate alongside troops, according to Reuters.The work gained momentum in 2025 and 2026, with Chinese military institutions seeking robots and related technologies for training, perception, manipulation and the collection of data needed to improve autonomous systems.

Reuters said it found no evidence that China has deployed an armed humanoid robot with an operational PLA unit.The findings come just days after China hosted the World Humanoid Robot Games, where robots competed in events including running, boxing and dancing.

Two days after the Games ended, the PLA Daily called for faster transfer of advanced technologies from laboratories to military training grounds for robotic ‘combatants’.China’s push reflects a broader global race to develop autonomous military systems, accelerated by lessons from the Russia-Ukraine war, where AI-enabled drones have transformed reconnaissance and attacks while unmanned ground systems are increasingly being used to transport supplies and retrieve casualties.

Dennis Hong, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles, said one of the strongest arguments for military robots is their ability to enter environments where sending humans would be dangerous.

If losing a robot can prevent the loss of a soldier, he said, the machine can effectively become expendable.Chinese manufacturers accounted for about 95 per cent of global humanoid robot shipments in 2025, according to BofA Global Research.

That industrial lead gives the PLA access to a rapidly expanding domestic robotics ecosystem as it explores potential military applications.Humanoids for urban warfareChinese military researchers are already modelling how humanoids and other robotic systems could be used in urban combat.A paper published in August 2025 by researchers at the National University of Defense Technology (NUDT) in Xi’an described a hypothetical urban assault force involving six ‘combat robots’, including humanoids, robot dogs and unmanned vehicles.

The systems would be divided between two assault teams and work alongside troops to clear an enemy-occupied building floor by floor and room by room.The paper projected that such equipment could become available within five to 10 years.

It did not specify what weapons the robots would carry, their rules of engagement or how they would respond to civilians.Juo-Min Chou, a researcher at Taiwan’s Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said advances in balance, perception and endurance could make humanoids useful in environments such as buildings, tunnels and ship interiors.

Their human-like form could theoretically allow them to combine mobility, climbing and manipulation.For reconnaissance and logistics, however, quadruped, tracked and wheeled robots are likely to remain cheaper and easier to deploy at scale, Chou noted.PLA commentary suggests China is also considering more direct combat roles.

A July 2025 article in PLA Daily said humanoid missions could eventually move ‘from supporting combat toward primary combat’ and discussed circumstances in which a robot could be authorised to fire on a living target after that target had been verified by a human.In December, the PLA Eastern Theater Command released an AI-generated video depicting military robots, including humanoids and quadrupeds, overwhelming Taiwan’s defences in a hypothetical future conflict.From research to military procurementChinese military interest in humanoids began gathering pace in 2024.

That year, NUDT and the Academy of Military Sciences hosted a defence-technology forum that included a session on military applications for humanoid systems, according to NUDT’s website.By June 2025, NUDT was using a university competition to test military scenarios.

One event simulated ‘infiltration behind enemy lines’, requiring robots to enter an area, map it and locate targets.

Another scenario involved identity checks, discipline inspections and security patrols at military bases.NUDT described the competition as a testing ground for humanoids to eventually ‘move toward the battlefield’.Military procurement notices around the same period pointed to efforts to acquire the technology.

In May 2025, the PLA issued a tender for a humanoid robot, including installation and technical training.

Four months later, another procurement notice, which listed an NUDT email address as its contact, sought an ‘embodied humanoid robot intelligent perception and dexterous operation system’.The available records do not establish whether those tenders were completed or identify the companies or robot models involved.A separate PLA procurement document from June this year allocated about $300,000 for a system to collect and label camera, radar and motion data for humanoids, including information about the terrain they could navigate.The procurement activity suggests the military’s interest extends beyond the physical robots themselves to the perception, manipulation and training infrastructure required to make humanoids useful outside controlled demonstrations.Defence companies enter the fieldBy 2026, work on military humanoids had also spread into China’s defence industry.Norinco, the state-owned defence conglomerate, has developed the Fuxi humanoid robot.

Company materials published in August described the full-size machine as capable of sentry duty, all-weather reconnaissance, intelligent patrols and other dangerous tasks.Fuxi can also be connected to Norinco’s teleoperation system, allowing a human operator to control the robot remotely, according to company materials.Remote operation could address one of the biggest challenges facing humanoid robots: the difficulty of making machines reliably interpret and respond to unpredictable environments without human intervention.Norinco did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.Malcolm Davis, a senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said humanoid robots were not practical battlefield systems at present but could become so within five to 10 years.The technology remains far from reliable enough for widespread combat deployment.

Humanoid robots are energy-intensive, while battlefield environments introduce variables that controlled demonstrations cannot replicate, said Aaron Johnson, a professor of mechanical engineering at Carnegie Mellon University.The problem of autonomous weaponsMilitary use of humanoids also raises questions about how much decision-making can be delegated to machines.International humanitarian law requires combatants to distinguish between civilians and military targets and prohibits attacks on wounded or surrendering fighters.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has warned that autonomous weapons could struggle to recognise surrender because such decisions can depend on context, behaviour and intent.The US military requires autonomous weapons to undergo legal review and realistic testing, with commanders and operators expected to exercise appropriate judgement over the use of force.

China’s defence ministry said in March that AI-powered weapons should remain under human control.For now, however, Chinese military researchers appear focused on overcoming the technology’s fundamental limitations.Wang Yonghua, a researcher at China’s Academy of Military Sciences, wrote in a November commentary that humanoids still face unresolved problems in movement, perception and intelligence.

He said technical breakthroughs, lower manufacturing costs and industrial-scale production would be needed before humanoids could become widespread military systems.If those conditions are met, Wang wrote, ‘humanoid robots will stream onto the battlefield.’