US Army field-evaluates humanoids for high-risk missions; IHMC's Alex is the only full platform winner
CyberRobooo · x · 2026-10-11
The US Army ran the xTechHumanoid finals at Marine Corps Base Quantico (Sept 9–10), with nine teams demoing and five winners picked — the only full-size platform among them is Alex from IHMC.
Footage shows Alex walking through wooded and rough grassy terrain and using a shovel for digging. Specs: 179 cm, 85 kg, 29 joints with custom high-power backdrivable quasi-direct-drive actuators; 1.5+ m/s, 2+ hr battery, 15+ kg continuous payload; impact-resilient actuators with some ballistic protection, hybrid AI plus human supervision.
The Army's goal is reducing soldier exposure to dangerous, physically demanding tasks — not field robot soldiers. It's also pursuing power systems, tactile sensors, and command software translating commander intent into robot actions. Power and control remain bigger bottlenecks than walking.
Related event: US Army Tests Humanoid Robots for Hazardous Missions(2 posts)→
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