Here are the 5 winners of the U.S. Army's xTechHumanoid competition

HMHSeptember 30, 2026

From 103 submissions to 5 winners: the xTechHumanoid competition results include a bulletproof humanoid robot, two power solutions, tactile sensors, and command-and-control software. This is pretty much a component map of what the U.S. Army thinks it needs.

In early September, the U.S. Army's xTechHumanoid competition received 103 white paper submissions from companies wanting to show their humanoid robot technology to the military. Ten companies made it to the demo stage at Marine Corps Base Quantico on September 9-10.

Five won.

One of them brought a robot designed to survive being shot at.

The five winners

The winning companies span the full stack of what a battlefield-capable humanoid robot actually requires, and the list is notable for what it emphasizes.

IHMC Robotics won with Alex, a humanoid featuring 29 joints with custom quasi-direct-drive actuators, impact-resilient design, and ballistic protection. (AKA, it's at least partially bullet-proof.) IHMC — the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition — is not a venture-backed startup. It's an academic and government-funded research institute that has been building advanced humanoids for two decades, most recently as the team behind some of DARPA's most demanding robotics challenges. Alex's hybrid autonomy combines AI decision-making with human operator control for complex missions.

ACES Group Energy won for integrated power systems with scalable energy storage, because a humanoid robot in the field needs power that lasts and that can be replenished in a logistics-constrained environment.

Hydroplane won for lightweight mobile power-generation systems designed for contested logistics environments.

RAS Labs won for highly sensitive fingertip tactile sensors for force and object detection. Fine manipulation in the field — clearing mines, handling ordnance, doing the tasks that currently put humans at risk — requires hands that can feel.

Velocity Explorations won for command-and-control software translating military intent into robotic actions. The robot needs to understand orders.

What "winning" means

These are not contracts.

The five companies advance to the next phase of evaluation and partnership with the Army: a structured engagement to assess how their technologies could contribute to actual military operations. The competition provided industry with direct connection to military operational requirements; it provided the Army with a clearer view of what humanoid technology can currently do and where the gaps are.

The Army FUZE xTech program frames the competition explicitly around reducing soldier exposure to dangerous and physically demanding tasks, and preserving combat power.

This isn't for Terminators, at least no right now. The language is logistics and support first, not combat engagement.

What the winner list signals

Look at the five categories that won: power systems (x2), tactile sensing, command-and-control software, and one full humanoid platform.

The Army isn't just looking for a robot that walks. It's looking for robots that can be powered in the field, robots whose hands can feel what they're touching, and robots that understand orders without requiring a robotics engineer to translate.

The ballistic protection on IHMC's Alex is the detail that stands out most.

Commercial humanoid robots are designed for factories and homes. They're not designed to keep operating when fragments hit them. The fact that ballistic protection was explicitly a selection criterion — and that an academic research institute, not a commercial startup, delivered it — says something about where the military thinks commercial robotics development is currently falling short.

The Army is building toward humanoid robot deployment from the component level up: power here, sensing here, software here, and one platform designed for conditions where things might shoot back.

The full integration of these five pieces is the next problem.