FCC Shuts the Door on New Foreign-Made Humanoid, Quadruped Robots
Harassment. A UK tribunal ruled that a colleague sexually harassed Vicars Cross Healthcare security guard Georgiana Ursuleanu when he sent a message in a work group chat that included a GIF that said “b\\\h I am lying.” The message was in response to Ursule...
Key takeaways
- The most recent developments in humanoid robotics show rapid expansion into both commercial and regulatory arenas.
- At the Humanoids Summit 2026, Honda unveiled its new “Avatar” robot—a tele‑operated humanoid with a dexterous multi‑fingered hand that is positioned as a physical extension for humans in hazardous or remote tasks, reviving the legacy of its ASIMO platform.
- In parallel, Mitsubishi Motors announced a partnership with the University of Tokyo startup Highlanders to mass‑produce up to 1,000 “HL Human” humanoid units per month at its Kyoto engine plant, targeting manufacturing, logistics and disaster‑response work.
- Tau Robotics has begun a pilot in San Francisco that lets residents hire its $50,000 humanoid cleaners for $30 an hour, though the service is still supervised by remote operators.
- Industry analysts are projecting explosive growth: Goldman Sachs expects global shipments to reach 76,000 units in 2027 and 502,000 by 2032, while Barclays predicts the market could swell from its current $2‑3 billion valuation to $200 billion by 2035.
Harassment. A UK tribunal ruled that a colleague sexually harassed Vicars Cross Healthcare security guard Georgiana Ursuleanu when he sent a message in a work group chat that included a GIF that said “b\\h I am lying.” The message was in response to Ursuleanu’s reminder about fire safety checks before a National Health Service inspection.
Negligence. A Sri Lankan court sentenced former Police Chief Pujith Jayasundara and former Defense Ministry Secretary Hemasiri Fernando to death. The two men were previously convicted of criminal negligence for failing to act on intelligence warnings before Islamic State-inspired bombings in 2019 that killed more than 260 people. China in the crosshairs. China has dominated the world’s race to develop robotics, which have been part of its national strategy for years. It shipped approximately 80 percent of the world’s humanoid robots in 2025 and is expected to surpass that figure in 2026 with advancements from Unitree and AgiBot alone, according to the State of Robotics 2026 from the Robotics Center of Silicon Valley. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) banned imports of new foreign-made humanoid robots, quadruped robots, and power inverters on 27 July, citing national security risks.
“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 to do just that,” said FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr in a statement about the decision.
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