The United States has moved to block new imports of foreign-made robots and power inverters. Officials fear a hostile power could spy through them, or switch them off from afar. The order never says China. It does not need to.
The Federal Communications Commission added two categories to its Covered List on Tuesday, as first reported by CNBC. One is “advanced robotic devices,” meaning mobile robots such as humanoids and quadrupeds. The other is connected power inverters, the boxes that connect solar panels, batteries and data-centre gear to the grid.
Landing on the Covered List is a hard commercial block. Equipment on it cannot get FCC authorisation. Almost every electronic device needs that clearance before it can reach the US market. It is the same lever the agency pulled on DJI drones and Huawei network kit.
The word the ban avoids
Read the FCC document and one thing stands out. It restricts foreign-produced robots and inverters “regardless of the nationality of origin.” The politics point at Beijing. The text points at everyone.
