US does its robotics industry no favours by fencing it off from China

Concession speeches follow a formula: the vocabulary of defiance, thanks to the faithful, a promise that the fight goes on. Last month, Brendan Carr, chairman of the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC), essentially delivered one on behalf of American robotics. Acting on findings from a White House task force, Carr added new foreign-made humanoid robots, quadrupeds and power inverters to the agency’s Covered List, denying them the authorisation nearly every electronic device requires to...

By Thomas O. Falk