The US Federal Communications Commission has confirmed that its new import ban on "advanced robotic devices" and power inverters made in foreign countries is squarely aimed at curbing China's influence, despite officially being country-neutral. The FCC says the restrictions are needed to guard against "unacceptable risks to national security" and the safety of US citizens, mirroring an earlier ban on foreign-made routers, as China races to expand production of humanoid and quadruped robots and dominates the global power inverter market through firms such as Sungrow and the already-blacklisted Huawei.

The ban covers any machine capable of movement, obstacle avoidance or navigation, fitted with an environmental sensor and a network-connectivity chip, and weighing more than 4.4 pounds — a definition wide enough to catch future robot vacuums, with the FCC's justification explicitly citing security flaws found in DJI's Romo robovac. Existing devices already in the US are unaffected and will keep receiving updates until January 2029, while firms wanting to keep importing new products must apply for a waiver and submit plans to shift manufacturing to the United States; Reuters reports many non-Chinese suppliers are expected to be exempted.