- China and Ukraine test new robotic capabilities
- Robots are being deployed on the front lines of the war with Russia
- Protests in China could soon be monitored by squads of robots and drones
Robots cannot surrender, do not suffer morale problems and do not refuse an order. That’s why the military and law enforcement see them as the future.
Ukraine has already employed robots in multiple roles in its armed forces, from maritime and aerial drones to CASEVAC and logistics vehicles, and now wants to deploy 25,000 more in frontline positions.
China is also flirting with the idea of equipping its armed police and riot units with squads entirely composed of robots, controlled by a central AI, with remote human intervention just to prevent the robots from being too harsh.
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Ukraine will deploy 25,000 ground robots
To complement its existing capabilities, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense has announced that it will seek to deploy an additional 25,000 robots in the first half of 2026. “Our goal: 100% of frontline logistics must be carried out by robotic systems,” said Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov.
Since the Russian invasion, the Ukrainian robot and drone industry has exploded and there are now more than 280 companies actively producing systems and solutions to aid the war effort.
Ukraine has already claimed to have taken over a trench system using a team made up entirely of robots, in what could be the first confrontation of its kind. There are also novel deployments of drones and robots with mounted weapons, including machine guns and rocket launchers.
The government is also creating a center to help the Armed Forces, General Staff and robotics manufacturers cooperate, ensuring smooth manufacturing and deployment.
China tests riot robots
The People’s Armed Police (PAP) theorized a scenario in which a protest is quelled in an urban environment using a riot squad made entirely of robots.
The squad, made up of reconnaissance drones, armored vehicles and robot dogs, would isolate and detain the instigators, eliminating the organizational backbone of the protest. The rest of the protest, isolated from the Internet and lacking leadership, would disperse on its own.
Aerial drones would use pattern recognition to identify agitators, before “shoehorning” the protest with robotic barriers. Arrests are then made using nets and Tasers to neutralize the threats.
The system would require very little human intervention and instead use AI as a command center. Arrests would still be a human decision, albeit a remote one.
The setting, set in the “New City,” bears a striking resemblance to Taipei, the capital of Taiwan, which China has claimed is an inalienable part of the mainland since the Kuomintang-led ROC government lost the Chinese civil war and fled to the island nation.
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