The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) banned imports of new foreign-made humanoid robots, quadruped robots, and power inverters on July 27, 2026, citing national security risks tied to supply chains and cybersecurity. The move adds the devices to the FCC's Covered List, which bars equipment and services deemed an unacceptable national security risk from being authorized, marketed, or sold in the United States.
The action is the latest in a series of enforcement steps the FCC has taken this year aimed at Chinese-manufactured robotics, drones, and routers. FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr said the commission will keep working to secure America's critical supply chains. "Following President Trump's leadership, the FCC will continue to do our part to secure America's critical supply chains and, with today's action, the FCC is acting in lock step with our national security agencies to do just that," Carr said in a statement.
The ban lands at a moment when humanoid robots are moving from trade show demos into warehouses and factories. China shipped roughly 80 percent of the world's humanoid robots in 2025 and is expected to surpass that share in 2026, according to the State of Robotics 2026 report from the Robotics Center of Silicon Valley. A prototype that takes 12 weeks to produce in the U.S. or Germany takes 10 to 14 days in Shenzhen, at a fraction of the cost.
What the FCC Actually Banned
The FCC based its decision on a White House interagency review that concluded foreign-produced advanced robotic devices pose a supply chain vulnerability that could disrupt U.S. economic and national security. The Covered List is the commission's log of equipment and services that cannot be authorized, marketed, or sold in the United States.
The review also flagged cybersecurity and safety risks. Advanced robotic devices collect data that could be used to surveil Americans, feed foreign intelligence services, or let attackers remotely commandeer the robots. The commission cited multiple exploits of cybersecurity vulnerabilities that leveraged robotics, including an incident in which security researchers identified potential pre-installed backdoors on quadruped robots that gave access to camera feeds and controls.
"As advanced robotic devices increase in relevancy across critical infrastructure, security, manufacturing, and the military, it is critical that they are secure and reliable systems which cannot be remotely accessed or manipulated by malign actors," the FCC said.
The ban is not a blanket prohibition. It applies only to future models, so devices previously approved for import remain legal to use. Industrial arms, stationary robots, and robots weighing under 4.4 pounds are exempt. The Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security have granted conditional approval to some advanced robotics devices and power inverters deemed not to pose the risks, and manufacturers can apply for conditional approval before January 1, 2028.
Why China Is the Real Target
The FCC did not name China in its announcement. But the context is hard to miss. China accounts for about 80 percent of global humanoid robot shipments, and the State of Robotics 2026 report attributes that lead to three forces: supply chain integration in the Yangtze River Delta, national policy coordination including a Humanoid Robot Action Plan to deploy 100,000 humanoids by 2027, and demand-side scale from companies like BYD, CATL, and Foxconn.
The same electric vehicle component supply chain that made China the world's largest car manufacturer now serves humanoids. Actuators, gears, and precision motors can often be repurposed directly between the two industries.
"The global supply chain for advanced robotic devices and their critical components, including actuators, end effectors, batteries, and sensors, are increasingly consolidated in a handful of countries, some of which have repeatedly shown willingness to disrupt American supply chains in times of geopolitical tensions," the FCC said. "If the United States continues to rely on foreign sources of advanced robotic devices and critical components, it will subject the parts of the U.S. economy and national security enterprise that are reliant on these robots to the whims of foreign entities that could disrupt or degrade the supply chains at a time of their choosing."
A Chinese Ministry of Commerce official said at a July 29 press conference that the FCC's actions in substance discriminate against and suppress Chinese enterprises and products. "Protectionism does not make the U.S. more competitive and will only hurt the interests of U.S. companies and consumers," the official said, according to IEEE's translation.
What It Means for U.S. Robotics Companies
The reaction from domestic manufacturers has been split. Brendan Schulman, vice president of policy and government relations at Boston Dynamics, wrote on LinkedIn that he supports the FCC's decision. "Communications and national security policy are crucial aspects of the national robotics strategy that Boston Dynamics and others have been advocating for," Schulman wrote. "I sense that this is just the first round in a series of policies that will define the success and growth of the industry for decades to come."
Not everyone agrees. Rueben Scriven, senior research manager at Interact Analysis, told The Robot Report the ban is more likely to inhibit the U.S. humanoid robotics industry than help it. "The presence of low-cost Chinese humanoid robots has been helping educate the U.S. market through promotional and entertainment use cases, an effect this policy risks undermining," Scriven said.
Kyle Chan, a foreign policy fellow at the John L. Thornton China Center at Brookings, has argued the FCC's approach may be too narrow. Chan said the National Security Council should establish a government-wide process to evaluate risk from Chinese technology products, services, and investments, similar to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. "Because these questions span a wide range of domains, including national security, trade, and telecommunications, no single department has the institutional authority or expertise to manage them alone," Chan said.
The ban will also likely disrupt U.S. researchers and startups that rely on Chinese humanoids to build software and train models for the domestic market. It is not clear whether domestic suppliers can fill the gap at the price and pace those developers need.
The Broader Pattern
The FCC move fits a wider shift in U.S. technology policy. In August 2026, a U.S. Senate committee approved a bill that would ban the import, sale, and operation of vehicles made by companies considered foreign entities of concern in adversarial nations like China. President Trump also issued an executive order making it harder for defense contractors to get waivers to buy critical minerals and materials from prohibited foreign suppliers.
The robotics ban is narrower in scope than the drone restrictions that preceded it, but it signals that advanced robotics are now treated as critical infrastructure rather than consumer gadgets. Whether the policy actually builds a domestic supply chain or just slows adoption of the technology is an open question, and the conditional approval window running to January 2028 gives manufacturers a runway to make their case.
For more background on U.S. robotics regulation, see Robotics 24/7.
The conditional approval deadline of January 1, 2028 is worth watching. Manufacturers that can demonstrate their devices pose no cybersecurity or supply chain risk may still win access to the U.S. market, and the list of approved foreign robots that emerges from that process will shape how the policy actually plays out on factory floors. See our robotics and drones coverage for updates as the deadline approaches.