Chinese humanoids steal the spotlight at San Francisco's robot party - Business Insider

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The latest news and analysis on robotics, from humanoid AI to real-world automation.

The latest news and analysis on robotics, from humanoid AI to real-world automation.

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By Rya Jetha ## Robotics leaders worried about FCC restrictions

The hardware shortage has taken on new urgency since the Federal Communications Commission imposed restrictions on new foreign-made "advanced robotic devices" last month. US manufacturers have welcomed protection from subsidized Chinese rivals, while startups and researchers say that losing access to inexpensive Chinese hardware could leave the country further behind.

The move became one of the biggest topics of conversation at the conference. Chinese companies accounted for roughly 90% of global shipments of humanoid robots last year. Beneath the exuberance loomed the industry's central constraint: As money and talent pour in, hardware remains scarce. I spotted a few robot dogs doing backflips at a booth on my way in, and caught a glimpse of Abi, Andromeda's multicolored companion humanoid, blowing bubbles into the audience during CEO Grace Brown's talk. Otherwise, it was slim pickings.

"Hardware is the missing piece," Theophile Gervet, cofounder and president of Genesis AI, which builds a general-purpose robot called Eno, told me at the conference. "There's less hardware being built than what the industry needs."

At Actuate, data vendors outnumbered robots