- The US FCC has banned foreign-made advanced robots, including humanoid, quadruped, and autonomous mobile robots, citing national security risks.
- The ban is justified by cybersecurity vulnerabilities previously found in Chinese-made robots, but it covers robots from any foreign country.
- The FCC followed a White House-led interagency directive to add these robots to the Covered List, as it cannot update the list independently.
- Covered robots are defined as mechanical mobile devices with sensors, network connectivity (e.g., Bluetooth, satellite >200 kbps), and onboard or cloud-based software/AI.
- The ban affects affordable Chinese robots like Unitree's humanoid robots used in labs and Roborock's robot vacuums, limiting US consumer and researcher access.