Did you ever watch The Terminator and at some point reassure yourself that the T-800 was cool but not gonna happen in your lifetime? Yeah, well, about that…
In late 2025, the Chinese military deployed UBTECH’s Walker S2 Robot on the border with Vietnam. This wasn’t a pilot project or a tech demo; it was a scaled rollout of a paradigm shift in border security, and probably much more.
The objective behind these robots is part of China’s “Smart Customs” and Military-Civil Fusion initiative, where algorithmic enforcement supplements human authority.
If that sounds worrying, it’s because it is.
The blurring of military and civilian spheres is seldom accompanied by civil liberties. The term “algorithmic enforcement” has a nice, dystopian ring to it, though I’m pretty sure I’ve met some algorithmically inclined border guards in my time, so maybe it’s not such a leap.
The Walker S2
To enforce this new digital border, they needed a machine that could navigate human spaces without human frailties. Enter the Walker S2.
The robot is interesting for a few reasons. It is engineered for resilience first; TikTok videos come further down the list. More importantly, it is designed to plug straight into human-based infrastructure with a minimum of disruption. In plain English, that means it can walk where we walk and do what we do (hold that thought).
In terms of size, it comes in at 1.76m (5’9″) and weighs ~70kg. The manufacturers say it is designed for “psychological parity” with civilians, which is a polite corporate way of saying it looks you dead in the eye so you know who’s in charge.
Movement-wise, or if we’re being technical, kinematics, the robot possesses 52 degrees of freedom. It can do deep squats for under-vehicle inspections or deadlift heavy cargo without complaining about its back.
The “killer” feature, however, is persistence. While competitors are tethered to chargers for hours, the S2 can hot-swap its own battery in 3 minutes. The result is 24/7 continuous uptime with zero offline periods. It effectively never sleeps.
When it comes to intelligence, things get even more I, Robot. The fleet is governed by “BrainNet,” which utilises a swarm architecture. Yes, swarm. This is genuinely smart: if one robot faces an obstacle, the collective decides the alternative route. It’s a hive mind, where the collective serves the mission, not the individual.
CONOPS (Concept of Operations)
The plan is for these robots to not act like machines, but to function as active agents within the ecosystem. Facial scanning and cross-referencing passenger watchlists are core functions. They also handle the “Sherpa” duties, lifting heavy objects and hazardous crates to spare human operators.
In effect, the robots provide a constant surveillance network that doesn’t need a human in the loop like CCTV does.
There are no missed faces, no slipping through the net, and crucially, no bribes to be accepted. When the system’s decision-making removes humans, it also removes our biggest weakness, and with it, any humanity at all.
Combat Ineffective (For Now)
To put you at ease, it’s worth mentioning that these robots wouldn’t beat you in a fight. Given their early stage of development, they can be easily toppled and lack the stability to restrain a struggling suspect.
However, if you look at how competing designs are advancing in agility, this won’t be a permanent limitation. Personally, I can see them getting downloads like Neo in The Matrix and waking up knowing how to cage fight the next morning.
The Grey Zone
While this is marketed as border security today, it would be foolish to assume this is the endgame. We are increasingly seeing iterations of new tech that start out clumsy, only to be followed by a version that walks like Chappie a few months later.
Placing these machines on the border is a strategic flex. Not only does it project a futuristic image, but it also signals technological dominance to neighbors and rivals alike.
The supply chain is undergoing a transformation, too. Operating systems are migrating to China-native solutions like HarmonyOS, while component manufacturers use these “civilian” models to perfect the hardware for high-end applications. Ultimately, within a few years of R&D and iterative improvement, they will possess a mature system of humanoid robots.
The byproduct? Not only will they supplement humans in high-risk roles, they will be able to replace them entirely.
Now, what type of role would a government find for a robot that is human-shaped, obedient, and able to slot into human places? Hmmm.
The Walker S2 is not the T-800, but it was never meant to be. It might just be the T-1, however.
Only 799 to go then.