Foundation Phantom

What it's for

Most humanoids get shown at trade fairs, against white walls and with a smile for the camera. Foundation's Phantom went where nobody stages demos: according to CNBC, the robot was tested under combat conditions in Ukraine. That alone says what this bipedal humanoid is designed for: tasks in which a human is exposed to risk. The military and defense are the number-one direction indicated, alongside planned use by the US Army.

The second direction is industrial work. Foundation is announcing leasing instead of sales: about USD 100,000 per year per unit, according to Forbes. That model makes sense for plants that want to pay for the robot's work rather than buy hardware and hire service technicians. Applications that follow from this logic (an inference from the category, not a manufacturer claim): moving crates in a warehouse (warehouses), staffing workstations on a production floor (factories), security tasks (security).

It is worth saying plainly what we don't know. Foundation does not disclose the robot's height, weight, degrees of freedom or payload; it claims proprietary actuators and a hybrid AI system. Without parameters you cannot compare it fairly with civilian models such as the Figure 03 or Fourier GR-3. Before you believe any scenario, ask the supplier for a datasheet and read it using the rules in “How to Read a Robot Datasheet”.

Who it's for

The Phantom suits military institutions and large industrial plants in the US; the company has Pentagon research contracts worth about USD 24 million. It is a model for customers who can negotiate a fleet lease rather than buy a single unit.

It does not suit Polish civilian companies: the robot is not available in Poland, and its defense profile may also mean export restrictions (this is our assessment; the manufacturer does not confirm it). Nor is it a solution for university labs looking for a research platform with an SDK; for them the Unitree G1 or Fourier GR-2 makes more sense. If you are interested in a factory robot you can realistically order, see our article “Humanoid Robots in Factories 2026”.

Deployments

Confirmed: Phantom tests in Ukraine under combat conditions (CNBC, May 2026) and planned use by the US Army. The Pentagon research contracts total about USD 24 million. For what civilian humanoids do in Poland and how they affect the labor market, see “Humanoid Robots and the Polish Labor Market”.

If you are looking for an industrial humanoid that has documentation and customers, consider the following.

Agility Digit 5: a logistics robot from the American company Agility, designed for warehouse work; the manufacturer has a public track record of logistics pilots (Agility Robotics).

Apptronik Apollo: a humanoid for industrial and logistics applications, piloted with partners; covered in “Apptronik Apollo in Mercedes-Benz Factories”.

Figure 03: a humanoid whose previous generation has a documented deployment at a BMW plant and a declared delivery scale.

UBTech Walker S2: a Chinese humanoid in industrial pilots; for the broader context of Chinese manufacturers, see “Chinese Humanoid Robots”.

Foundation was founded in 2024 in San Francisco by CEO Sankaet Pathak. The company unveiled the Phantom in December 2025, betting on novel actuators and a hybrid AI system. Before anyone had seen the full specification, the robot already had tests in Ukraine behind it, which CNBC and Interesting Engineering reported on in 2026. The company declares a plan to build 50,000 units by the end of 2027, which, with no publicly known production line, should be treated as an announcement, not a fact. Eric Trump is among its advisers. Company profile: Foundation. This is not a series of generations, as with Tesla or Figure AI; for now there is one publicly known design and its first pilots.