FCC Puts Foreign-Produced Advanced Robots on the Covered List

Related equipment on CasterHQ: Keyed AGV drive wheels. CasterHQ stocks keyed drive wheels used on AGVs and AMRs. It does not sell those vehicles. A wheel order is not FCC equipment authorization, and it is not ANSI/ITSDF B56.5.

WASHINGTON — On July 28, 2026, the Federal Communications Commission added foreign-produced advanced robotic devices — except those with Conditional Approval from the Department of War (DoW) — to its Covered List. This is the standards beat, aged overnight after same-week U.S. AMR funding coverage — not a funding story.

What the Covered List is, before the jargon: it is the FCC’s public list of communications equipment and services that national-security authorities have deemed an unacceptable risk to U.S. national security or to the safety and security of U.S. persons. The FCC updates that list when those agencies direct it. Covered equipment is generally barred from new FCC equipment authorization — the usual gate before U.S. import, marketing, or sale.

What this is not: a recall. It is not an automatic shutdown of robots already on a warehouse floor. The FCC Fact Sheet is plain. The update does not stop continued import, sale, or use of models the agency previously authorized. It does not affect devices a buyer already purchased. The restriction lands on new covered models that cannot get new authorization unless they clear Conditional Approval.

What counts as an “advanced robotic device”

Per the FCC FAQ: a mechanical mobile device — including AMRs, humanoids, and quadrupeds — that can locomote, avoid obstacles, navigate, or move on the ground; that operates at a distance from a human operator or supervisor based on commands, sensor data, or both; and whose combined device-plus-dock weight is over 4.4 pounds. It must also have an environmental sensor; network connectivity (wired or wireless, including Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, cellular, or satellite) at ≥200 kbps either way; and software — including firmware and AI/ML model weights — for autonomous navigation or movement perception, data collection, or remote command-and-control.

AGVs are not automatically excluded. The FAQ says they may fall inside even on predefined paths if they still operate at a distance from a human based on commands or sensor data. Exclusions listed by the FCC include connected vehicles, rail-only vehicles, uncrewed aircraft (UAS), certain unmanned underwater vehicles, specified FDA-regulated devices, and fixed or stationary non-mobile industrial or medical robots.

What “foreign-produced” means

This is not a logo-nationality test. “Foreign-produced,” the FAQ says, means an article that would not qualify as a “domestic end product” under 48 CFR 25.101(a): manufactured in the United States with domestic component cost over 65 percent for deliveries in 2024–2028, or over 75 percent starting in 2029. The FCC calls the action country-neutral. The nationality of the firm does not decide the status.

Conditional Approval

For these robots, Conditional Approval runs through DoW — not the DHS path used for the separate power-inverter listing on the same July Fact Sheet. Applications go to conditional-approvals@fcc.gov. Devices or classes that receive Conditional Approval can continue to get FCC equipment authorizations. Federal government purchase or use is unaffected, the Fact Sheet says.

What to do with this

On the next AMR or AGV quote, ask in writing: Is this exact model already FCC-authorized for U.S. import, marketing, or sale? Does the vendor claim it is a domestic end product under 48 CFR 25.101(a), and will they show the manufacturing and domestic-content basis? Does it hold DoW Conditional Approval, or is an application pending? Do not treat a U.S. headquarters press line as proof of domestic-end-product status.

For rolling hardware CasterHQ actually stocks, see keyed drive wheels. That catalog does not answer Covered List status.