Role & capabilities
- Ground reconnaissance
- Load carriage
- Modular mission equipment
- Primary domain
- Land
- System type
- Ground multirole vehicle
- Developer / manufacturer
- China Ordnance Automation Research Institute
- Origin / production countries
- China
- Other names
- 机器狼
- Variants / configurations
- Shadow / 暗影 — reconnaissance; Blood / 浴血 — armed role; Pole / 极地 — support
- Operators / programme customers
- Not identified in reviewed sources
Evidence & current status
Government demonstration, not evidence of fleet-wide fielding. Earlier unnamed robot-dog exhibits and other manufacturers remain separate research questions.
The robot-wolf programme is a Chinese quadruped military robotics family described by the Ministry of National Defense in March 2026. The Chinese-language report explicitly attributes development to the China Ordnance Automation Research Institute. That attribution is more specific than identifying a commercial robot maker from appearance alone.
The report distinguishes Shadow for reconnaissance, Blood for armed tasks and Pole for support. These are role names used in the government account, not proof that three separately accepted production models exist. The platform uses articulated legs and is presented as capable of traversing rough ground while carrying mission equipment. Advertised cooperation between robots concerns shared sensing and supervised task execution.
The public material documents a development and demonstration programme. It does not provide a procurement quantity, a named operational unit acceptance or a full vehicle data sheet. This entry therefore uses a trials status and leaves those questions open. It also remains separate from earlier unnamed robot dogs shown in exercises; there is insufficient identity evidence to merge every Chinese quadruped demonstration into one product family.
Sourced specifications
Figures apply to the named configuration. Maximum values are not guaranteed operating performance.
| Specification | Reported value | Context & source |
|---|---|---|
| Configuration | Articulated quadruped with role-specific payloads | Configuration demonstrated in the March 2026 government report. Source ↗ |
| Mobility | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source ↗ |
| Dimensions | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source ↗ |
| Mass | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source ↗ |
| Payload | 25 kg described in a mobility demonstration | Demonstration claim, not a published universal rated payload. Source ↗ |
| Endurance | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source ↗ |
| Range | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source ↗ |
| Speed | Up to 15 km/h | Government demonstration description; conditions unspecified. Source ↗ |
| Terrain / environment | Rough-ground demonstration including urban rubble and beaches | Descriptive demonstration evidence, not an all-terrain certification. Source ↗ |
| Sensors | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source ↗ |
| Communications / control | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source ↗ |
| Launch / deployment | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source ↗ |
Documented milestones
Named roles and developer reported
Government video identifies the developer and describes three mission roles; no acceptance quantity is disclosed.
Read the announcement ↗
Publication history
- — Added in the September 2026 global coverage review, with sources, configuration limits and explicit data gaps.
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Follow the evidence
Source types identify who makes the claim. Programme milestones and supplier statements should be read in context.