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On Jul 28, 2026 the FCC added foreign-produced 'advanced robotic devices' (humanoid and four-legged robots) and connected power inverters to its Covered List, barring them from FCC equipment authorization and effectively banning new imports on national-security grounds (surveillance/remote-commandeering risk). The action is aimed at Chinese makers (Unitree named on the Pentagon list) which accounted for ~85% of 2025 deployments, and is widely read as protecting US developers — Figure AI, Tesla Optimus, Agility Robotics, Apptronik — while they scale. China signalled possible rare-earth countermeasures.

Lotte Hotels & Resorts joined a government-backed effort under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources to develop humanoid robots for hotel operations, the first Korean hotel group in a national next-gen service robotics program.