The Federal Communications Commission dropped a sweeping new ban on foreign-made advanced robots and connected power inverters, barring new models from import, sale, or marketing on US soil and delivering the Trump administration’s latest salvo in the technology cold war with China.
The FCC added two categories — “advanced robotic devices,” which covers humanoids and quadrupeds, and connected power inverters — to its Covered List, the regulatory blacklist that already includes telecom gear from Huawei and ZTE, surveillance cameras from Hikvision and Dahua, and foreign-made drones.
“If they can walk, talk, and phone home, we don’t want them walking into American homes or factories unsupervised,” FCC Chairman Brendan Carr posted on X following the announcement.
The security math
The ban follows a formal national security determination by the White House-convened interagency body, which concluded that foreign-produced robotic devices represent an unacceptable supply chain and cybersecurity risk.
The administration’s logic is blunt: advanced robots are mobile sensor platforms. They navigate, map environments, connect to networks, and stream data — often to foreign-owned cloud infrastructure. That data, the determination argues, can be harvested by hostile intelligence services and weaponised against Americans.
“The networked capabilities of advanced robotic systems create extensive vulnerabilities and vectors for attacks that can manipulate the data and physical operation of the advanced robotic system,” the FCC’s order states.
Connected power inverters landed on the list for similar reasons. These bidirectional devices — which convert DC to AC electricity and increasingly populate the US grid alongside solar and battery storage installations — contain WiFi, cellular, and Bluetooth modules that create remote attack surfaces. The administration’s concern: a foreign adversary could exploit those connections to infiltrate grid infrastructure at scale.
What gets caught?
The FCC’s definition of “advanced robotic device” is calibrated to capture the current generation of commercially available systems. The devices must be mobile — capable of locomotion, obstacle avoidance, navigation, or ground movement — operate at a distance from a human operator, weigh more than 4.4 pounds, and contain sensors, connectivity components, and software enabling autonomous operation.
That net catches everything from Unitree’s dog-like quadrupeds to full-size humanoid platforms, but excludes smaller educational or hobbyist robots and tethered industrial arms.
China is the dominant manufacturer in both categories. Unitree Robotics, a Hangzhou-based firm, has sold thousands of its quadruped robots to US universities, research labs, and industrial customers. Chinese inverter manufacturers, meanwhile, command a substantial share of the global market for solar and battery power electronics.
The loopholes
The ban is not airtight. Devices already purchased by consumers or previously approved through the FCC’s equipment authorisation process remain unaffected — retailers can continue importing, marketing, and selling those models.
The FCC also carved out a “Conditional Approval” pathway, allowing manufacturers to apply for exemptions if they can demonstrate their devices “do not pose such unacceptable risks.” The agency is actively urging producers to submit applications — a tacit acknowledgment that the domestic supply chain for advanced robotics and inverters remains thin.
The federal government itself is entirely exempt. The ban “does not impact purchase or use by the federal government at all,” the FCC noted, leaving the door open for defense and civilian agencies to continue procuring foreign-made systems if needed.
A pattern, not a one-off
Monday’s action extends an accelerating campaign. Uncrewed aircraft systems and their critical components landed on the Covered List in December 2025. Foreign-made routers followed in March 2026. Now robots and inverters.
The pattern mirrors earlier FCC actions on drones and routers, where the sweeping nature of the bans collided with the reality of limited domestic alternatives. In those cases, the agency issued waves of exemptions and deadline extensions as US manufacturers scrambled to fill the void.
The challenge is starker for humanoid robots. While a handful of American firms — including Tesla, Figure, and Agility Robotics — are developing platforms, the commercial market remains nascent. Chinese manufacturers, buoyed by state investment and aggressive cost reduction, are shipping units today at prices US competitors cannot yet match.
“The administration is making a calculated bet,” said one industry analyst. “They’re willing to accept short-term supply disruption to prevent a long-term dependency that looks an awful lot like what happened with drones — where the US woke up one day and realised the entire ecosystem was built in Shenzhen.”