US bans new Chinese humanoid robots. The catch: the biggest maker got in first - tech-ish

This story has significance for readers across Kenya and beyond.

On Tuesday 28 July, the United States closed its market to new humanoid robots and robot dogs made outside the country. The decision came from the Federal Communications Commission, the FCC, the agency that decides which electronic devices may be sold in the US. The rule names no country. In practice it lands on one. China builds most of the world’s humanoid robots, and Chinese machines are what it keeps out.

The FCC did this by adding foreign-made “advanced robotic devices” and certain power inverters to its Covered List. Almost every electronic gadget needs an FCC authorisation before it can be imported, marketed or sold in the US. Once a product sits on the Covered List, it cannot get that authorisation. Without the authorisation there is no US market. The rule looks forward, not back. Robots already approved, and robots people already own, are not affected, and the US government can keep using them. A Chinese company that hoped to launch a new humanoid in the US this year now cannot, unless it wins an exemption.

The ban is wider than humanoids and robot dogs. It also covers other mobile robots that carry sensors and connect to networks, including the autonomous machines that ferry stock around warehouses, once they weigh more than about 2 kilogrammes. Fixed robot arms bolted to a factory floor are outside it.

Who it hits, and the part most reports skipped

China supplies roughly 85% of the world’s humanoid robots, on figures cited by the Associated Press. The best-known maker is Unitree, a Hangzhou company whose robot dogs and backflipping humanoids have gone viral for years. The Pentagon recently added Unitree to a list of firms it says have ties to the Chinese military, an allegation Beijing rejects.

Unitree had already cleared its current products through the FCC weeks before the door shut, a point most reports skipped. Its R1 humanoid was authorised on 22 June, and its H2 humanoid and A2 robot dog on 30 June, so those specific models can still be sold in the US. Unitree has also said the US was a small part of its business, 13.3% of its 2025 revenue, in the IPO prospectus reported by CNBC. The ban bites on future models, not the ones on sale today.

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Why the US says it did this

The stated reason is security. A task force convened by the White House concluded that robots built abroad could create a cybersecurity risk to critical infrastructure and to the safety of people in the US, and that leaning on foreign factories for them leaves supply chains exposed. The worry, set out by the FCC, is that a networked robot with cameras and microphones could be controlled remotely or used to gather information. Chinese firms operate under China’s National Intelligence Law, which requires companies to assist state intelligence work when asked. That law is the backdrop to the US concern, and it is the same argument Washington used against Huawei’s telecoms gear.

The power inverters caught in the same order matter beyond robotics. An inverter turns the direct current from solar panels and batteries into the alternating current that homes and grids run on. Chinese companies including Huawei and Sungrow are among the largest suppliers, so this part of the ruling reaches into solar power and data centres, not only gadgets.

The timing, from China’s side

Nine days before the ban, at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai from 17 to 20 July, Chinese robot makers used the show to announce plans to sell worldwide. China produced about 20,000 humanoid robots in 2025 and more than 40,000 in the first half of 2026 alone, on official figures.

Then, two days after the ban, Unitree opened its path to the stock market. It priced a Shanghai listing on 6 August that values the company at about $9 billion, roughly KES 1.16 trillion, the first time a Chinese humanoid maker has gone public. Subscriptions open on 10 August. DeepSeek, the AI firm that unsettled Silicon Valley last year, is one of the investors. Other makers, among them AgiBot, Galbot, Leju and Deep Robotics, are lining up their own listings.

China called the move protectionism. Its embassy in Washington said the US should stop targeting Chinese companies and warned that Beijing could respond if the restrictions cause real harm. Shut out of the US, Chinese makers are turning elsewhere. Unitree began a commercial push into Europe in late July, according to Forbes.

What it means for Kenya

The robots in this fight are not on local shelves yet, but the logic of it is familiar. This is the same US-China technology contest that already decides which phones, chips and services reach us, and at what price. We have written about how that contest is pushing phone prices up, and about the wider set of AI tools now shaping the market.

There is also a practical point about which robots Kenyans are likelier to meet first. A Unitree Go2 robot dog starts at about $1,600, close to KES 207,000. Its R1 humanoid launched at about $5,900, near KES 760,000. A comparable machine from the US firm Boston Dynamics, the Spot, costs around $75,000, about KES 9.7 million. If the US market closes to the cheap Chinese machines and their makers push harder into Europe, Asia and Africa, the robot that eventually turns up in a Kenyan warehouse or mall is far likelier to be Chinese than American. The security questions the US is raising, about who can reach a networked robot’s cameras and data, are ones African buyers and regulators will have to weigh too, as they did with Huawei.

What to watch

For now, nothing changes for anyone who already owns one of these machines, and the models already cleared can still be sold in the US. Three things are worth watching. The US has left a door open for exemptions, so the question is whether any Chinese maker wins one, and on what terms. The planned Trump-Xi meeting in September is where robots join chips and rare-earth minerals on a long list of disputes. And once subscriptions close, Unitree will have raised close to $900 million, about KES 116 billion, with only a small slice of its sales in the US, which gives it every reason to grow in other markets.

Reporting originally appeared via Tech-ish Kenya. Read the full source for additional context.