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Has China hacked into a defense contractor for the Pentagon, so that it can steal secret robot plans?

A probe by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission has been started, calling for security analysts to produce an unclassified report that gives details of the country's android arsenal and the source of the technologies.

The breach in the information involves QinetiQ, a military device manufacturing company, whose parent firm inspired Q's lab in James Bond thrillers. Attacks happened between 2007 and 2009, with the first examinations showing that the hackers, or the so-called Comment Crew team, maintains links with the People's Liberation Army. The attack that compromised much of the firm's research exploited a security loophole in Qinetiq's network, reports Bloomberg. Some of the stolen information involve software systems that monitor military robots.

What are the latest trends and industrial adoption of China's robots? Would Chinese robotics outpace those of the U.S.? If so, which of them are based on technologies poached through "cyber penetration?"

Many of the requirements are meticulously listed at the Federal Business Opportunities  to address the emergence of China's competitive edge in the robotic race, due to unfair methods.

"I will make a hypothesis: that authoritarian regimes who believe people are weaknesses ... that they can not be trusted, they will naturally gravitate toward totally automated solutions," Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work said in a Defense One report.