A new report from OpenMind argues the race for dominance in humanoid robotics will be decided by magnets, gearboxes and electricians, not AI.
August 26, 2026
In the global race for dominance in humanoid robotics, the deciding factor may have less to do with AI and more to do with the seemingly mundane hardware used to make robots move.
That’s the conclusion of a new study released on Wednesday from San Francisco-based robotics AI vendor OpenMind, which assessed the infrastructure required to build and deploy advanced embodied AI across 58 countries and 22 metropolitan clusters.
The study was partially motivated by the FCC’s recent barring of foreign-made robotics components from the U.S., a move that was quickly perceived as a slight against Chinese manufacturers and a bid to bolster domestic supply chains. That leaves open the question of whether the U.S. can build its own robotics ecosystem without China, and what it would take. OpenMind's study attempts to answer it.
