A 34-second video from a hotly-contested border region has sparked panic
Footage from a remote and hotly-contested Himalayan border has left the world shocked, as experts rush to confirm what it appears to show.
Is China the first nation to have a “Terminator” in active military service? Footage of what appears to be a humanoid robot patrolling a contested Himalayan border has the world wondering.
The 34-second video clip has gone viral in India.
It’s not Bollywood. It’s not cats. It’s not political indiscretion.
It’s mechanical.
It’s Chinese.
And it’s facing off against Indian troops high in the mountains, where bloody clashes killed dozens of troops earlier this decade.
The barren landscape is studded with rocks and clumps of grass. And a dusty path cuts across an eroded ridge line.
On it sits a white, apparently humanoid form.
It’s staring back, unmovingly, at the distant Indian army surveillance team watching it through a powerful digital zoom camera.
The clip was filmed by soldiers patrolling the Line of Actual Control (LAC). This is a tense, unofficial border among the cliffs and gulleys of the Himalayan mountains, maintained since the two nations fought a short war there in 1962.
But is it a killer robot?
Beijing’s state-controlled corporations have been hyping dramatic advances in recent weeks.
From fluid female forms flouncing across the stage to “assassin” bots showing off their killer moves, the claim is that China is years ahead of Western competitors, such as Elon Musk’s Optimus Tesla Bot.
That propaganda is having an impact.
But buried among the social media hysteria and alarm is some calm, careful analysis.
It’s likely not a killer robot after all.
Instead, the heavily pixelated form matches that of a standard People’s Liberation Army (PLA) camera surveillance platform.
Neither New Delhi nor Beijing have officially commented on the footage.
Science fiction becomes reality
The Himalayan LAC is an ideal location for robotic combatants and spies.
When Indian and Chinese troops set upon each other there in 2022 with batons, clubs and rocks, the rarefied atmosphere and penetrating cold contributed to more than a dozen deaths.
It takes weeks for the human body to adapt to the thin oxygen and low air pressure at 4700m. Complete acclimatisation takes up to two months.
Even then, the impact of even simple exertion and minor physical injury will be significantly amplified.
The soldiers resorted to sticks and stones in their brawl, as diplomacy considers the use of guns to be an escalation risk.
So the first nation to field a mechanical humanoid combatant in these conditions will invariably gain a significant advantage.
Fear does not immediately equal reality.
But it can be manipulated.
And it can come true.
Great strides are being made in robotics. And China claims to be leading the game.
In August, Shenzhen-based EngineAI unveiled a full-scale humanoid robot it has dubbed the “T800”.
That’s the same designation given to the chrome-plated, skull-faced, assault-rifle-toting murder machine that co-starred in the 1984 Terminator movie.
EngineAI’s marketing insists its electric assassin can kick, punch and karate-chop better than any meatbag. And while it doesn’t display any chrome (yet), the company claims the 173cm (5.6ft) tall, 75kg bot can fight relentlessly for up to four hours solid.
And it’s planning to demonstrate its flying kicks, millisecond-level reaction times and 360-degree situational awareness in a robot fighting tournament within the next few months.
Exactly what market the athletic assassin bot is being built for is unclear.
Bodyguard? Border patrol? Entertainment?
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) last month announced its intention to deploy humanoid robots along its border with Vietnam to “perform tasks such as guiding travellers, conducting inspections and handling logistics”.
This bot brigade is due to go active later this month.
Slaughterbots already rolling
Robot dogs are already being trained to leap ashore and sniff out defenders in Beijing’s planned invasion of Taiwan.
The state-controlled China Central Television (CCTV) network in October released a report stating that the PLA Eastern Theatre Command’s 72nd Group Army had tested the technology during a simulated beach assault.
The autonomous robodogs, working in co-ordination with first-person-view (FPV) drones, formed a spearhead for troops attempting to break through defensive lines.
Built by China South Industries Group Corporation (CSGC), the 70kg quadropeds sprinted across the beach carrying up to 20kg of weaponry, ammunition and supplies. Their job was to breach barbed wire, clear trenches, and kill defenders – all within a five-minute timeframe.
CCP news services boast the bots proved capable of shifting from detecting a target to killing it within 10 seconds.
But Ukraine and Russia have already been battle-tested with similar systems.
“Beyond resupply under fire and casualty evacuation, Ukrainian formations … have now used combined UGV (Uncrewed Ground Vehicle) teams in combat,” argues an essay for the US Army’s West Point Modern War Institute.
Ukraine’s first all-robot assault force was unleashed in December last year.
It overwhelmed Russian positions in a Kharkiv urban battlefield, “an event many rightly call a milestone in the history of uncrewed combat systems,” former US Army explosive expert Sam Scanlon writes.
But fighting is not yet proving to be a battlebot’s most useful role. Instead, it’s battlefield logistics: Carrying ammunition, food and soldiers in and out of frontline combat zones.
“The takeaway … is practical: When integrated with sustainment pipelines and training, UGVs reduce the human burden of routine, high-risk tasks and free scarce personnel for decisions machines cannot make.”
Originally published as A 34-second video from a hotly-contested border region has sparked panic
