The FCC’s restrictions on mobile robots now reach into homes. They cover new versions of robot vacuums, pool cleaners and lawn mowers, most of which are made in China. Jitesh Ubrani, director of consumer devices research at IDC, said moving manufacturing to the United States would probably cost a lot. “The US consumers end up just paying a whole lot more.”
Everyday Costs, Executive Decisions
The United States has expanded restrictions on Chinese technology, including drones, mobile robots and other electronics. Officials say the measures protect sensitive consumer and government data and encourage domestic manufacturing. But the costs and disruption fall on companies, universities and consumers that rely on those products and parts.
“For a while of course, it was like, ‘Hey, let’s find the best components, and let’s find them at the cheapest price,’” said Rajat Bhageria, founder of Chef Robotics. Now investors and customers ask him, “Why are you still using foreign-made parts?” As government restrictions expand, businesses are trying to anticipate what might face a ban next.
Chef Robotics assembles its machines in the United States, but Chinese factories make all the machine utensil components attached to its robot arms. The arms themselves aren’t currently covered by bans. Bhageria is looking for alternatives anyway; he worries restrictions could widen. “You can imagine what’s the next shoe to drop, right? Like, the next thing might be fixed robot arms.”
Bhageria tried moving production of the plastic grabbers last year, as President Donald Trump raised tariffs on Chinese imports. He found that making them in the United States would cost too much, and many suppliers outside China couldn’t fill the order. “We will even talk to some really good machine shops in the US and they’re like, ‘We can’t do this.’”
The Supply Chain Squeeze
Decades of outsourcing left U.S. manufacturers unprepared to meet demand. Companies, universities and consumers seeking advanced and everyday electronics now face higher costs and longer waits. Ben Armstrong, executive director of MIT’s Industrial Performance Center, said, “We just don’t know how to make them in the US. So, there will be a learning curve, and during that learning curve process, the price will be high.”
In July, the Federal Communications Commission added power inverters and new advanced robotics, including humanoid robots, to its restricted foreign-made technology list. The United States has also forbidden cars using Chinese software and imposed a 100% tariff on Chinese electric vehicles. Similar tariffs on drones took effect last month, after a ban on new models in December.
Large U.S. companies have faced challenges from the restrictions, too. Earlier this month, the Trump administration criticized Ford over alleged improper links to Chinese technology, including its use of Chinese electric car batteries made by CATL. Ford rejected claims that it was ceding U.S. manufacturing to Chinese entities.
Who Can Afford the Switch?
Kopin Corporation took more than two years to move production of some micro display screens from China to the United States, said its chief executive, Michael Murray. He estimates U.S. production costs as much as 25% more; Department of Defense funding helped cover the expense of moving the supply chain. “We don’t have the volumes to get the costs down as much as the rest of the market, so there is a price squeeze there that we have to accommodate for,” Murray said. China can produce more micro displays in one week than the United States can produce in a year, he added.
Gavin Kenneally, whose company makes industrial and military robot dogs, is seeking a new source of rare earth metals, which China nearly monopolizes globally. Ghost Robotics moved motor production from China to South Korea and buys neodymium magnets from a European company, but China supplies the raw material, and it will face a government ban starting in January. Kenneally called the supply chain problem “extremely difficult” to solve in the short term.
Sayan Mitra, an engineering professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, said several courses use Chinese robotic arms, drones, humanoids and vehicles. Replacing Chinese humanoids with U.S. ones could cost 10 times more, while other drone options might not exist. “If it is done in a very ad hoc, unpredictable way, it’s going to slow down everything,” Mitra said. He warned that blocking access to robots could derail efforts to create robotics researchers and a domestic supply chain.
Saman Farid, founder of industry coalition Robots for America and Formic, said a Chinese company may reach its third prototype by the time an American company builds its first. His customers haven’t yet been affected, but he worries expanding restrictions could leave manufacturers without competitive equipment and technology. The policy’s intended domestic supply chain is taking shape through a costly transition, while businesses, research labs and consumers pay for scarce alternatives.