Eric Trump-backed startup plans humanoid robots for military use
5 reported3 unconfirmed
A startup called Foundation Future Industries, backed by Eric Trump, is developing humanoid robots intended for military combat and other defense applications. CEO Sankaet Pathak told WIRED the company plans to give its humanoids lethal capabilities soon, though he declined to share specifics, saying only that the company is exploring “kinetic things” and may unveil something in the next few months. The company has tested its Phantom MK1 robot with Ukrainian forces and holds government contracts worth millions of dollars, though some of those contracts were inherited from a company it acquired or came through a research institute. Eric Trump serves as both an investor and the company’s chief strategy adviser. While some experts say autonomous humanoid soldiers are close to feasible, others argue that fully autonomous combat robots remain a distant dream due to challenges in perception, navigation, and physical manipulation. Pathak dismissed doomsday scenarios as overblown and said he hopes the technology can make war more precise and reduce collateral damage.
What’s reported
Foundation Future Industries plans to give its humanoid robots lethal capabilities soon, according to CEO Sankaet Pathak.
The company has tested its Phantom MK1 robot with Ukrainian forces.
Eric Trump is an investor and the company’s chief strategy adviser.
The company has government contracts worth millions of dollars, some inherited from Boardwalk Robotics and some through the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC).
Experts disagree on how close fully autonomous humanoid soldiers are to being fielded, with some saying it may take more than a decade.
Open questions
The specific timeline for when Foundation’s robots will have lethal capabilities.
The exact value and nature of the company’s government contracts.
Whether the company has independently secured new government funding beyond inherited contracts.
Key figures
Sankaet Pathak, CEO of Foundation Future Industries
Eric Trump, investor and chief strategy adviser
Robert Griffin, senior research scientist at IHMC
Rodney Brooks, robotics pioneer and professor emeritus at MIT
Sources: Wired
