Chinese humanoid robots running, dancing, and overcoming obstacles just like humans.

However, the stage is now shifting from athletic fields to the battlefield.

It has been confirmed that the Chinese military is accelerating tests and research to utilize humanoid robots in actual combat.

Analyzing over 100 Chinese military procurement notices and government records, Reuters reported that Chinese military institutions are testing robots in battlefield environments and even researching ways for robots and soldiers to conduct combat operations together.

The Chinese Ministry of National Defense began bidding for related services in May of last year, investing approximately 300,000 dollars into systems that collect terrain information, camera data, and radar operation data.

The combat scenarios envisioned by the Chinese military are quite specific.

Chinese military researchers have proposed urban warfare operations, such as forming platoons consisting of six units including humanoids, quadrupedal robots, and unmanned vehicles, to enter enemy-held buildings alongside human soldiers and search room by room.

Because humanoid robots use two arms and two legs like humans, the Chinese military expects them to have high utility in spaces where conventional unmanned vehicles have difficulty moving, such as buildings, tunnels, and ships.

Norinco, a Chinese state-owned defense contractor, has also unveiled "Pushi," a life-sized humanoid robot.

Designed to perform guard and reconnaissance missions, it combines human remote-control methods rather than being fully autonomous.

The PLA Daily, an official newspaper of the Chinese military, also recently urged that such advanced robot technologies should not be confined to laboratories but moved to military training grounds to verify combat capabilities.

However, it is not yet at the stage where humanoid robot soldiers are being deployed to the battlefield like in movies.

No circumstances have been confirmed indicating that armed humanoid robots are currently being operated in active combat units of the Chinese military.

Technical limitations that need to be resolved, such as cost, battery life, and autonomous decision-making capabilities, still remain.

For this reason, experts believe that rather than directly replacing soldiers, military robots are highly likely to be deployed first to dangerous missions that are risky for humans, such as mine clearance, nuclear, biological, and chemical reconnaissance, and material transport.

(Reported by Kim Minjeong | Video by Ahn Jun-hyeok | Design by Lee Sumin | Produced by SBS Digital News)