Backflips, sparring and breakdance: China’s humanoid robots are already intimidating.
The Asian country showcased the rapid technological advances they are making in human-like bots at the annual Spring Festival Gala earlier this month.
The kung fu-kicking skills on display have sparked fears that humanoids could be the future of global military conflicts – and that the West is falling behind.
Metro has spoken to leading war experts about the role humanoid robots could play in future battlefields or whether they’ll remain a dystopian fantasy.
‘A humanoid robot could replace the man with the gun’
Robots are already playing a vital role in modern warfare.
In Ukraine, remote-controlled vehicles equipped with machine guns have already carried out assaults on Russian forces.
Drones reign the skies and dominate the battle in large parts of the country.
‘This is because robots can do things that are too risky for humans to do,’ says Dr James Pritchett.
The War Studies Lecturer at Hull University told Metro: ‘In the West, we have become very casualty averse. We don’t like to take risk.
‘Robots are a great alternative to that. You can send a machine to do a person’s job.’
What is different about humanoid robots, compared to the technology already being used, is simple: they have two legs.
This gives them ‘certain advantages’ over other bots.
Dr Pritchett explained: ‘There are advantages to having legs. You can go upstairs relatively easily. You can navigate certain kinds of rough terrain.
‘Humanoids make sense in a complex urban environment.’
Take the looming conflict over Taiwan, which China has threatened to capture for decades.
The war expert speculates that humanoid robots would have an advantage fighting in the dense cities, such as Taipei, that make up the East Asian island.
Machines are also good at speed.
‘If you are charging across a fire-swept trench system, then a robot might be what you want,’ Dr Pritchett adds.
He continued: ‘If you’re going to control a situation, take territory, keep it and control it, you need to put a man on the scene with a gun.
‘Now, a humanoid robot – if it’s smart enough and if the technology is there – could replace the man on the scene with a gun.’
That is a big if.
‘Giving a robot fingers is very, very weird’
There are questions about whether human-like bots will make sense in a modern warzone or be advanced enough to do the job.
‘Robots aren’t good at creative adaptivity. AI doesn’t seem to be as good at that as we are,’ said Dr Pritchett, who reckons humanoid military robots are at least several decades away.
‘If you put a robot, even a humanoid one, in a complicated counterinsurgency situation like Afghanistan, it might not be as good as a human being.’
The Hull University lecturer also warns that cheaper ‘AI-controlled tanks’ and simple robots might make a more sensible military investment than ‘expensive’ humanoid ones.
Peter Spayne, former weapons engineer in the Royal Navy, agreed that visions of humanoid armies were ‘fictional at the moment’.
The expert on lethal autonomous weapons explained that China’s choreographed displays of their humanoid machines were in ‘very confined and mapped environments’.
He told Metro: ‘Could I ask it to walk down the street with loads of unknown inputs coming in, such as other people, pedestrian traffic, cars and animals?
‘It’d probably trip over quite quickly or walk into a wall and get stuck.’
Although Mr Spayne said that advanced ‘dystopian killer robots’ might be 20 to 30 years away, he doubted they would look like humans.
He said: ‘Tanks replaced horses, but tanks didn’t look like horses with four legs.
‘So we will absolutely see armies of drones that look like quadcopters, that look like vehicles, that look like aircraft.
‘But we won’t see something that stands six feet tall, on two legs, and walks like a human.
‘To try and give it fingers and dexterity to operate a weapon system designed for a human is very, very weird.’
He continued: ‘Good engineering says that’s not how you’d do it.’
While the weapons engineer doesn’t envisage humanoid robots on the frontline, that doesn’t mean they won’t play an important part in the future global conflicts.
Mr Spayne said: ‘I think they could be a tool in the box for search and rescue, disaster relief, and going into destroyed buildings.
‘The places where something on wheels would probably come unstuck rather quickly, and it’s too dangerous for a person.
‘But you’re not going to have a robotic firefighter making all human firefighters unemployed. They will be used in specialist situations.’
The race for humanoid robots
What these experts agree on is that China has proven they are ‘ahead of the game on’ humanoid technology.
China accounted for around 90pc of all humanoid robots sold last year and is home to more than 451,000 companies involved in intelligent robotics.
Two of the leading humanoid companies sold a combined 10,000 robots last year, whereas Elon Musk’s Tesla has built just 150 humanoids.
Dr Prtichett said: ‘The West has approached AI a little differently. We are focusing on disembodied AI, like ChatGPT. It could be that we are missing out.
‘If there is a military role for humanoid robots, then we’re probably behind the curve on it.’
The UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) has also been developing its own robotic systems.
Early last year, they conducted a trial using robot dogs to defuse explosives.
In May, they then conducted the largest-ever UK defence AI trial across land, sea and air.
And a month later the forces tested an underwater robot that can prevent threats from sabotaging undersea cables and pipelines
An MoD spokesperson said: ‘This government has reversed a four-year decline in Armed Forces recruitment, with more personnel now joining than leaving for the first time since 2020.
‘We are driving transformation in our Armed Forces and making the UK the leading edge of innovation in NATO by equipping our forces with the full range of conventional and technological capabilities.
‘AI is already embedded in our military systems including drones, uncrewed surface vessels and autonomous mine-hunting robots and through UK Defence Innovation we’re driving the development of data and AI-powered capabilities.’
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