2025 has officially become China’s “Year of Humanoid Robotics.” The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology published the “Guiding Opinions on the Innovative Development of Humanoid Robots,” providing a strategic roadmap for the entire sector.

The PLA aims to minimize human casualties through “human-machine integration,” using robots as the spearhead in future urban combat, especially in a Taiwan scenario.

At the Victory Day parade in September 2025, unmanned ground combat vehicles were showcased for the first time. In October, state broadcaster CCTV-7 aired footage of the PLA’s 72nd Group Army deploying “robot wolves” in live amphibious assault drills – clear proof that the technology has moved from experimental to operational status.

According to Chinese military expert Wang Yunfei, these machines mark the end of “human-wave tactics” and the beginning of “intelligent maritime tactics.”China’s Top Combat Robots Deployed in 2025

1. Robot Wolves (Quadrupedal “Wolf Robots”)
   Developer: Unitree Robotics (military variant of the GO2 Pro)
   Weight & Size: ~70 kg, 1.2 m length
   Key Features: 360° vision, 5 km/h speed, 25 kg payload while moving, QBZ-191 rifle & explosive integration, 5G swarm coordination, 3-hour battery
   Use Case: Recon, breaching obstacles, ammo transport. In Taiwan drills, they crossed defensive lines in under 10 seconds.
   Cost: ~$3,500 (civilian) → ~$10,000 (military)
   Advantage: Swarm-capable at a fraction of Western prices
2. Mechanical Yak
   Developer: Deep Robotics
   Payload: 160 kg, 10 km/h, 6-hour battery, AI autonomous navigation
   Designed for mountainous and forested terrain logistics (tested in 2025 Cambodia joint exercise)
3. Lynx Robot Dog
   Developer: Deep Robotics
   Rubber wheels on leg tips, 6 m/s off-road, 40 kg payload, thermal imaging
   Ideal for plateau warfare and explosive detection
4. Tiangong Ultra (Humanoid Robot)
   Developer: PLA Research Institute
   Can run a marathon in 2 h 40 min, 50 km/h sprint capability, “ChatGPT for robotics” motion engine
   Designed for urban combat and fully unmanned operations
5. Norinco Autonomous Combat Vehicle
   Developer: State-owned Norinco
   50 km/h autonomous speed, DeepSeek AI brain, anti-tank missiles
   First unveiled February 2025

China’s military 5G network can simultaneously control over 10,000 robots within a 3 km radius, enabling true swarm warfare.Head-to-Head Comparison with Global Rivals (2025 data)

 Bottom line:A Chinese Unitree robot wolf is roughly 20 times cheaper than a Boston Dynamics Spot while carrying almost twice the payload. The U.S. still leads in software autonomy, but China dominates in production speed and swarm integration (10,000+ units simultaneously).

Ethical Concerns and the Road AheadThe PLA itself acknowledges the risk of “indiscriminate killing” by humanoid robots and has called for new ethical guidelines. Experts warn that 2025 marks the beginning of a new “killer robot” arms race. While the U.S. plans to deploy thousands of autonomous drones by year-end, China is developing a robotics equivalent of “ChatGPT” using its DeepSeek AI model.

China’s move is fundamentally changing the nature of war: fewer human lives lost, many more machines on the battlefield. Yet ethical, legal, and strategic risks are rising fast. More live tests are expected in the pipeline for 2026 – the world is watching.

Sources: Defense One, Reuters, CCTV, Global Times, ThinkChina, Interesting Engineering and industry reports. Opinions are those of the author.