President Trump’s Federal Communications Commission just closed the American market to two new categories of foreign-made connected equipment.
One can walk through a building.
The other can sit quietly inside the electric grid.
The FCC says both could become tools for surveillance, remote interference or a cyberattack.
Chairman Brendan Carr announced that advanced mobile robots—including humanoid machines and four-legged robot dogs—are being added to the agency’s national-security Covered List.
Foreign-produced connected power inverters are going on the list too.
Carr laid out the action directly:
The Federal Communications Commission said executive-branch national-security agencies determined that the two device categories pose unacceptable risks to the United States. The FCC acted after receiving formal determinations identifying the equipment under the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act, the law that gives the commission authority to keep designated high-risk technology out of its approval pipeline.
The action blocks new covered versions from receiving the FCC authorization required for import or sale in America.
The commission’s notice defines advanced robotic devices as mobile machines—including humanoids and quadrupeds—that can operate with a degree of autonomy. It treats foreign-produced connected inverters as a separate category because those devices can communicate with outside systems while controlling the flow of electricity in solar, battery and other energy installations.
That distinction matters.
The order is aimed at new equipment entering the market. It does not amount to federal agents knocking on doors to seize every previously authorized robot or solar inverter already in use.
The commission also preserved a path for exemptions when the Department of War or Department of Homeland Security determines that a device presents no unacceptable national-security risk.
Existing equipment authorizations remain governed by the commission’s current rules, while manufacturers seeking approval for new covered products now face the national-security restriction. The FCC also said the update implements determinations made under the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks framework rather than creating an open-ended prohibition by press release.
That is a targeted security screen, not a blind ban on technology.
The robot side of the decision is the attention-grabber for obvious reasons.
Humanoid machines and quadrupeds are no longer laboratory curiosities. They are moving into factories, warehouses, security work, construction sites and other spaces filled with cameras, microphones, floor plans and proprietary data.
A connected machine capable of seeing, hearing, mapping and moving is also capable of collecting an extraordinary amount of information.
If a hostile government, compromised manufacturer or remote attacker can reach that machine, the risk is not limited to a stolen spreadsheet.
The device itself can move.
The Daily Caller summarized the FCC’s determination that foreign-produced advanced robots could be used to surveil Americans, strengthen foreign intelligence capabilities or be remotely commandeered.
The report also noted that Chinese manufacturers accounted for most worldwide humanoid-robot shipments in 2025, making the supply-chain question far more than a hypothetical concern. A market already dominated by foreign suppliers can become difficult to secure after companies standardize around the hardware and software.
Those machines increasingly combine high-resolution cameras, microphones, navigation systems, wireless connections and cloud-based software. In a factory or warehouse, they can encounter production methods, worker movements and floor plans every day.
Remote access to that stream—or to the robot’s controls—would give an adversary a view inside places that conventional consumer electronics never enter.
The FCC posted its own fact sheet with the two categories spelled out:
FACT SHEET —Today, the FCC updated its Covered List to include two new categories of devices—“advanced robotic devices” (defined as mobile robots, such as humanoids and quadrupeds) and, separately, connected power inverters produced in foreign countries.
Read more
pic.twitter.com/IdVwHjywwr https://t.co/sfvEi2Z0zs
— The FCC (@FCC) July 28, 2026
The second category may be less dramatic, but it could be even more important.
Power inverters convert electricity between forms. They are essential components in solar installations, battery systems and other parts of the modern grid.
Many are connected to the internet for monitoring, maintenance and remote control.
That convenience creates an opening.
In its official national-security determination, the FCC warned that remote connectivity could allow foreign firms or attackers to shut inverters off, collect and remove data, conduct surveillance or exploit the equipment in a cyberattack.
The determination describes inverters as a growing layer of operational technology embedded across distributed-energy systems. Because manufacturers can issue software updates, monitor performance and change settings from afar, hidden access or compromised code could affect far more than the customer who bought the box. The risk grows as thousands of identical devices are installed and managed through common platforms.
One compromised inverter is a problem for one owner.
Thousands of remotely reachable inverters spread across homes, businesses and power facilities can become an infrastructure problem.
That is the lesson Washington learned too late with communications equipment, drones and other connected technology.
A cheap device can carry an expensive vulnerability.
And once foreign-made hardware is installed throughout a critical network, replacing it can cost far more than screening it before approval.
The FCC’s Covered List exists for precisely that reason. It identifies communications equipment and services found to pose an unacceptable risk to national security or the safety of Americans.
Adding a category to the list prevents the commission from treating the product like ordinary consumer electronics when federal security agencies have already identified a broader threat.
The list already covers equipment and services associated with companies such as Huawei, ZTE, Hytera, Hikvision and Dahua, along with other products identified through national-security determinations. Its practical force comes through the FCC’s equipment-authorization process: covered gear cannot simply receive the federal approval that opens the door to the U.S. market.
Tuesday’s additions extend that security logic into two fast-growing sectors before foreign-connected hardware becomes even more deeply embedded in American industry and energy infrastructure.
President Trump’s approach is straightforward: America should not build its next generation of factories, power systems and artificial-intelligence infrastructure on hardware that a foreign adversary may be able to watch or control.
Critics will call that protectionism.
But national security is not a free-trade experiment.
American companies still have every incentive to build better robots and inverters. Foreign producers can still pursue an exemption by demonstrating that their equipment does not create an unacceptable risk.
What they no longer receive is automatic access to the American market while Washington looks the other way.
The decision also sends a message beyond these two product categories.
The connected devices pouring into American homes, businesses and infrastructure are computers with sensors, software, network access and, increasingly, the ability to act in the physical world.
The old rulebook treated them like appliances.
President Trump’s FCC is treating them like the national-security assets—or liabilities—they can become.
Robot dogs make for an eye-catching headline.
The real story is that Washington is finally asking who holds the leash.
This is a Guest Post from our friends over at 100 Percent Fed Up. View the original article here.
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[ H/T WLT Report ]
