Deep inside a startup’s San Francisco workspace, the future of warfare is currently playing with coloured kids’ blocks.
Foundation Robotics’ Phantom robot — a black, shiny, faceless machine — is engaged in what the company calls “free play”. It is manipulating blocks to gather data from interacting with its environment. “This is today’s menu,” says Sankaet Pathak, co-founder and CEO of the two-year-old startup.
“A US startup is developing humanoid robots for the battlefield, but current models lack basic capabilities like batteries and waterproofing.”
Phantom is being developed for both military and civilian applications. Foundation claims it is the only US firm building autonomous humanoid robots specifically for defence — from supply pickup and reconnaissance to the more controversial “frontline weaponisation”: engaging and neutralising threats.
Pathak argues that arming robots could keep human soldiers out of harm’s way. Humanoids could enter and search buildings where chokepoints are lethal, and land-based autonomy can be more precise than air strikes.
But for now, Phantom is far from ready. The current generation, Phantom MK-1, has no battery, is not dust or waterproof, cannot get back up if it falls, and its hands lack strength and dexterity. It does not even have proper wrists yet.
A second-generation model, Phantom MK-2, is being built in a restricted area of the facility. Pathak says it will be element-proof, have a six-hour battery, recover from falls, and withstand more force. Better hands are crucial: the next set will have wrists that help it fire weapons.
Foundation’s ambition is to produce at least 40,000 units a year by the end of 2027, with long-term costs under $20,000 (£15,000) each. Pathak warns that China is pursuing similar technology and the West must keep up. He envisions hundreds of thousands of AI-driven humanoid robots forming a ground force, matching the growing use of autonomous drones in the skies. A fleet of humanoid robot soldiers could act as a major deterrent to conflict, he says.
For now, however, the company has $24m (£18m) in research contracts to pilot the technology with the US military, and two units are being tested by the Ukrainian military. Yet the first-generation robot I was shown remains a childlike student of the physical world — stacking blocks, learning to fall, waiting for a battery it does not yet have.