28 Jul 2026 00:00
🏛️ Government & Policy
FCC bans new foreign-made (Chinese) humanoid and quadruped robots from the US market via Covered List addition
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.
FCC Covered List action (Jul 28, 2026) — via Latham & Watkins / Wiley alertsUNLISTED SOURCEC