In a pretty unsurprising turn of events, the US government has banned the import of Chinese robots and from what I understand, any robots manufactured outside the US. We can probably thank Unitree and their scary security risks for that.
The implications of this ban are pretty harsh for hobby robot collectors as written. Let’s go over this a bit.
You can read the entire release here, but to sum it up, new robots made in China will not be allowed in to the USA. You won’t be able to import them, and companies won’t be able to offer them for sale.
This includes any robot that can communicate over a network or “sense surroundings”, so while most wording around this new ban focuses on humanoid robots, it absolutely does include things like robot vacuums. It does, however, have exceptions for some things like autonomous cars (why that’s okay but a Roomba isn’t is beyond me) and manufacturing arms.
Products already approved for sale in the USA won’t be affected, but new releases will be. You will still be able to buy things already for sale.
What many articles don’t mention about this ban is how companies can get around it. Initially I thought the ban was kind of justified and that companies would just have to have safety testing to get their product approved. These types of products need to be more scrutinized anyway, so I was pretty supportive of it if that was the case. Unfortunately though, I was wrong.
Companies must either have their products made in the USA or commit to starting manufacturing in the USA.
You read that right, they have to be made here. There are no other ways to get their products here as of time of writing.
Now let us think about that a little bit. What is an item you use every day that most certainly collects more information about you than a camera and a microphone? What items do you enter banking information in to and have an extensive search and IP history on?
You could probably answer that with a few different things, but I am talking about cellphones and laptops. Guess where most of those are manufactured?
Yeah, the answer is China. Yet, the government is not pushing companies to bring cellphone manufacturing to the USA or trying to ban Chinese-made laptops. Why? Who knows.
On one hand, I get it. Military and security companies are using Unitree robots now, and that can pose national security dangers. Robots used in these fields should be subject to much more testing and scrutiny for obvious reasons. But why punish the average person? Why take away their choice to accept the risks that come along with having a device that can connect to the internet, isn’t this supposed to be the land of the free?
This new ban, while understandable, is going to not only set the US back on tech and make robots much, much more expensive for consumers. Considering robotics is kind of the future at this point, the US is going to fall behind if they don’t accept innovation from other countries at all, and consumers will continue to suffer as prices rise. Apparently though, sources say exemptions will be made for almost everything that is not made in China.
I guess we will see what happens. Personally, I think the US should focus more on protecting its own citizens from surveillance by Flock cameras but of course that’s not going to happen.
If you are against this new ban, please sign this petition. Hopefully things can change.
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