Robots

FCC Bans Foreign-Made Robots, Including Roombas

The ban on new foreign-made robotic devices comes soon after regulators nearly killed Roomba maker, iRobot.

Joe Lancaster | 8.3.2026 3:45 PM

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(Photo: Elena Karetnikova/Dreamstime. Illustration: Midjourney, Fatima Ruiz.)

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently imposed a ban on new foreign-made robotic devices, drawn so broadly as to even include robot vacuums. It's an especially devastating blow, since one of the most prominent robot vacuum manufacturers has already been the victim of overzealous regulators.

"Today, the Federal Communications Commission updated its Covered List to include two new categories of devices," the agency announced last week, including "'advanced robotic devices' (defined as mobile robots, such as humanoids and quadrupeds)."

The Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act of 2019 directed the FCC to "publish and maintain a list" of "communications equipment or services from a company that poses a national security risk to U.S. communications networks."

Items on the list are "prohibited from getting FCC equipment authorization," effectively preventing their sale or use in the U.S.

The new ban goes much........

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