Trump-linked robotics startup tests humanoids in Ukraine, targets U.S. military use
Foundation Future Industries, a start-up founded in 2024, aims to use humanoid robots for military and industrial work instead of household chores and the service sector.
Foundation Industries of the Future
As Silicon Valley races to build humanoid robots that can fold laundry and pour lattes, at least one start-up sees a very different use for the technology: combat or other potentially dangerous and deadly work.
Meet Foundation Future Industries, a San Francisco-based robotics company with ties to the Trump family that is developing ‘dual-use’ autonomous humanoid robots for both heavy industrial environments and military applications.
While the robots may seem like something out of a Terminator-like sci-fi movie, they’re getting closer to reality, with the first iterations undergoing testing in Ukraine for potential use in Kiev’s war against Russia.
Foundation CEO Sankaet Pathak told CNBC that the core of the company’s mission is the belief that humanoid robots should be used to address humanity’s greatest challenges rather than housework and service roles.
“I believe technology has reached a level where it can replace jobs that are dangerous for humans, and if you can do that, that would be the highest net benefit you can create of all the applications of robotics,” Pathak said.
Sankaet Pathak, CEO and founder of Foundation, a company that produces humanoid robot Phantom-01, poses for a photo during an interview with Reuters at her company’s factory in San Francisco, California, United States, on February 4, 2026.
Aleksandra Michalska | Reuters
Although the Foundation operates in an increasingly crowded humanoid field, its open embrace of the potential military uses of its technology sets it apart.
However, the startup set ambitious goals for itself; Pathak plans to increase production to thousands of units this year and begin front-line testing with the US military within the next 18 months.
The plans and the firm’s growing ties to Washington represent another example of how artificial intelligence and robotics are beginning to transform modern warfare and become a focal point of national security.
From Silicon Valley to Ukraine
Pathak is known for previously leading Synapse. Controversial fintech platform declaring bankruptcy in 2024. He soon founded the Foundation with Arjun Sethi, former CEO of Tribe Capital, and Mike LeBlanc, co-founder of Cobalt Robotics.
Pathak’s latest venture faced some scrutiny after he suggested the company had close ties to General Motors and could seek investment from the automaker, allegations GM later denied.
The Foundation would eventually gain further global recognition by sending two of its Phantom MK-1 units to Ukraine for a pilot demonstration earlier this year, marking what the company described as the first known deployment of humanoid robots on the battlefield.
Ongoing testing, supported by the U.S. government and conducted with Ukrainian authorities, has focused on logistics in dangerous areas.
Foundation Future Industries, a start-up founded in 2024, aims to use humanoid robots for military and industrial work instead of household chores and the service sector.
Foundation Industries of the Future
Ukraine was a natural start, as its ongoing conflict with Russia has already become a major testing ground for robotics and artificial intelligence in warfare. In the war, which is now in its fifth year, it has been seen that ground robots are used to provide supplies to the front line, and autonomous and artificial intelligence-supported unmanned aerial vehicles are used for precision attacks and reconnaissance.
According to Pathak, MK-1 tests in Ukraine have already proven the robot’s potential to perform material collection operations that often expose soldiers to danger.
But while the MK-1s help demonstrate the usefulness of the core technology, they are far from super-soldiers, carrying a payload of only about 44 pounds and lacking waterproofing and sufficient battery life to be deployed at scale.
The foundation aims to send new and improved robots to Ukraine this year in the form of Phantom 2, which Pathak said will have “superhuman abilities” and double the payload capacity of the Phantom 1.
While the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense declined to comment on the issue, the US Department of Defense did not respond to the inquiry.
Alignment with Washington
The foundation expects the tests in Ukraine to shed light on future work with the US military. The start-up has received government research contracts totaling $24 million for feasibility tests on inspection, logistics and weapons handling across the Army, Navy and Air Force.
Pathak said conversations with government officials are shifting from research to how to scale the use of robots. The CEO aims to deploy the Foundation’s technology in the U.S. military and, if necessary, on the front lines of conflict within the next 12 to 18 months.
In particular, this goal will be achieved with Eric Trump, the second son of the incumbent president, who recently joined the company as chief strategy advisor. The firm’s government contractsCorruption is obvious.”
A Foundation spokesperson told CNBC that Eric Trump was an investor in the firm before taking over as an advisor and that the two parties have a shared vision of bringing manufacturing back to the United States.
Phantom-01, a humanoid robot developed for military purposes by the San Francisco-based startup Foundation, is at the company’s factory in San Francisco, California, USA, on February 4, 2026.
Aleksandra Michalska | Reuters
The foundation has placed great emphasis on aligning with Washington’s interests by framing the importance of its technology in the broader geopolitical rivalry between the United States and China. Pathak said the goal is to deliver “the best robots we can make” to the U.S. military, better than anything China has.
While many American companies are working with the US government to deploy autonomous robots for military applications, the Pentagon has yet to announce the deployment of a humanoid robot for such purposes.
China, which has several leading humanoid robot companies, has also publicly funded and supported technology-oriented startups focused primarily on industrial and economic applications. Although Chinese military researchers have published reports on the potential of humanoid robots in the military, the scope of their trials remains unclear.
The Chinese army had previously exhibited the first versions of motion-controlled humanoid robot soldiers, as well as artificial intelligence-supported robot dogs for war.
Age of autonomous warfare
Proponents of humanoid technology in military and industrial fields argue that human-like robots are generally better suited than other types of robotics to navigate real-world construction sites, logistics centers, and war zones.
Kateryna Bondar, a senior fellow at the Wadhwani Center for Artificial Intelligence at CSIS, told CNBC that humanoid robots could theoretically provide certain advantages on the battlefield due to their autonomy and human-like abilities.
“Modern urban battlefields with stairwells, staircases, basements and narrow corridors are created for human movement, and this can give humanoid systems an advantage over tracked or quadrupedal robots in certain scenarios,” Bondar said. he said.
Still, there are questions about the complexity and costs of producing humanoids compared to other systems.
As humanoid robots advance onto the battlefield, the technology has raised ethical concerns about the use of autonomous decision-making, especially in warfare where human lives are at stake.
While most armed uses of Phantom robots will retain some human approval in the decision cycle, Pathak said the Foundation’s robots will need to make fully autonomous decisions in certain time-critical scenarios.
Foundation Future Industries, a start-up founded in 2024, aims to use humanoid robots for military and industrial work instead of household chores and the service sector.
Foundation Industries of the Future
Still, the US military has already shown a willingness to adopt AI models alongside technology. reportedly used Informing strikes and decision-making in the ongoing conflict with Iran.
A bigger hurdle for companies like Foundation may be proving that human-like robots could be more practical and cost-effective for military applications than other alternatives on the market; This is something many experts doubt.
“Making robots look like humans is a complex and expensive engineering challenge, and what Ukraine has taught us is the opposite—that we need the ability to adapt quickly and produce quickly and cheaply,” said Melanie Sisson, a senior fellow in the Brookings Foreign Policy program.
What experts agree on is that the age of AI robots in warfare is at hand, regardless of shape or size.
“I expect tracked, flying and underwater robots to replace human labor,” said Toby Walsh, chief scientist at the Artificial Intelligence Institute at the University of New South Wales.
But he said it might be “a science fiction trope to expect humanoid terminator-style robots.”
