FCC Moves to Block New Chinese Humanoid Robots on National-Security Grounds

The physical machines that were supposed to define America's next industrial era just ran into a wall built by the Federal Communications Commission. On Tuesday, July 28, the agency added two new categories of hardware to its Covered List — the blacklist that bars devices from receiving the equipment authorization they need to be imported or sold in the United States. The additions: foreign-produced power inverters, and "advanced robotic devices, such as humanoids and quadrupeds." The target, though never the sole name on the paper, is unmistakable. It is China.

The move extends into physical AI a security doctrine Washington has spent a decade applying to telecom gear, surveillance cameras, drones, semiconductors and connected vehicles. Now it reaches the walking, seeing, listening machines that Chinese manufacturers are shipping into warehouses, factories and homes faster than anyone else on earth.

What the FCC actually did

The designation flowed from a national-security determination made by a White House-convened interagency body, which concluded that internet-connected robots could create "a cybersecurity risk that threatens the security of critical infrastructure" and endanger "the safety and security" of U.S. residents. The logic mirrors earlier crackdowns: a humanoid or robot dog is a rolling sensor platform, packed with cameras, microphones, navigation systems and remote-control software capable of mapping the inside of a home, a logistics hub or a power plant — and, potentially, phoning that data home.

"NEW The FCC has now added two new categories of devices to our Covered List, which bans new versions from import or sale in America," Chairman Brendan Carr wrote on X. "This action follows determinations by Executive Branch nat sec agencies that the devices pose unacceptable risks to our national security."

Carr framed the order as continuity with the administration's broader posture. "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," he said.

The restriction is narrower than a blanket ban. It does not claw back robots consumers or companies already own, and it does not stop retailers from selling models that cleared FCC authorization before Tuesday. It bars new models from getting authorized going forward. The order also carves out the federal government, which can keep buying and operating the devices — a notable exemption given the Pentagon's interest in the technology.

Why Unitree is at the center

The security case did not emerge from abstraction. Researchers have flagged a Bluetooth Low Energy exploit that yields root-level access to Unitree's Go2 and B2 quadrupeds and its G1 and H1 humanoids — and the flaw is reportedly wormable, meaning a compromised robot can scan for and infect nearby Unitree units on its own, with no human involvement. The Pentagon recently added Unitree and several other Chinese technology firms to its list of companies it says have ties to or support the Chinese military.

The commercial stakes are as stark as the security ones. Of roughly 15,000 humanoid robots shipped globally in 2025, Unitree and fellow Chinese firm AGIBOT each shipped more than 5,000. U.S. rivals Tesla and Figure AI each shipped a few hundred or fewer. By some estimates China controls around 85% of the global humanoid market, powered largely by low-cost machines and components that undercut Western competitors.

That gap is precisely why the order lands as both a security measure and an industrial one. "This is one of the strongest technology-security actions in modern U.S. history," wrote Evan Beard, CEO of U.S. manufacturer Standard Bots, on LinkedIn. "The message is unambiguous: Robotics is a technology America must lead and own."

Why this matters

The Covered List has, until now, mostly governed things that sit in a rack or hang on a pole — network switches, routers, security cameras. Robots are different. They move through the physical world, they act on it, and increasingly they run onboard AI models that make autonomous decisions. Treating them as national-security assets marks the moment U.S. policy stopped drawing a line between "the internet" and "the machines walking around your building."

It also raises hard questions the order does not fully answer. Enforcement runs through the FCC's equipment-authorization chokepoint rather than an outright import prohibition, and the grandfather clause means thousands of existing Chinese robots keep operating inside American facilities. Domestic manufacturers cheered, but the U.S. does not yet make enough humanoids at competitive prices to fill the void — a supply reality that could raise costs for the warehouses and factories now betting on automation.

China responded sharply. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning accused Washington of "overstretching the concept of national security to suppress Chinese companies," warning that "protectionism does not make the U.S. more competitive, and it will only hurt the interests of U.S. companies and consumers." Beijing said it would take "all measures necessary" to defend its firms' interests.

What to watch next

The timing is combustible. "It's a steady drumbeat of potential flashpoints heading into the Trump-Xi summit planned for September," said Samm Sacks, a senior fellow at the New America think tank who studies Chinese technology policy. Watch whether Beijing retaliates against U.S. robotics or component suppliers, and whether the exemption for already-authorized models becomes a loophole big enough to blunt the order's effect.

Also worth tracking: the Cassidy-backed legislation introduced in late 2025 to restrict foreign robots, which could harden the FCC's administrative action into statute; how quickly U.S. firms like Tesla, Figure AI and Standard Bots can scale; and whether the Covered List's next additions push further into physical AI — the drones, autonomous forklifts and smart machines that increasingly share the floor with the humanoids now shut out of the American market.