US distributor of China’s most popular humanoid robots pivots after US ban - Ars Technica

The team accelerated plans to open a robotics manufacturing facility as the US government moved toward restricting or banning foreign-made robots. US lawmakers introduced legislation like the American Security Robotics Act in the Senate in March, followed by the GUARD Act in the House of Representatives in June.

The biggest development so far came in July, when the US Federal Communications Commission banned the imports of new models of foreign-made robots, including popular robot vacuum cleaners and Unitree’s humanoid robots and robot dogs. The move was justified along national security lines because of potential cybersecurity vulnerabilities, but also clearly geared toward encouraging companies to produce more robots in the United States. But on August 10, RoboStore announced a major shift in its business strategy, with plans to fully open a 66,000-square-foot facility for manufacturing commercial robots by the first fiscal quarter of 2027. It also launched a new company called Robo Inc. to oversee the new robotics manufacturing and systems integration business.

Making the pivot

Haggerty and his team had already started thinking about the possibility of starting up their own robotics manufacturing business about a year ago. While supporting customers’ deployment and integration requests, they had gained insights into how customers were thinking about using robots for specific applications. # US distributor of China’s most popular humanoid robots pivots after US ban

FCC ban on foreign-made robots accelerated RoboStore’s US manufacturing plans.

A person works on a quadruped robotic dog that is lying on a counter, while a second person stands in front of a computer with multiple display screens inside the office of Robo Inc. A person works on a quadruped robotic dog that is lying on a counter, while a second person stands in front of a computer with multiple display screens inside the office of Robo Inc.

A leading US distributor of China’s most popular humanoid robots and robot dogs now plans to produce its own robots at a facility on Long Island, New York. The business pivot comes amid the US government’s growing crackdown on foreign-made robots.