AIBRIEF
The Federal Communications Commission's foreign robot ban catches most new robot vacuums, putting brands like Roborock and Dreame on a company by company waiver track for US sales.
A common household robot vacuum joined the Federal Communications Commission's restricted-technology list this week. The agency's ban on imported robots, publicly framed around humanoids and surveillance-style machines, also captures most new consumer robot vacuums under the FCC's own working definition.
The rule covers, per a statement the FCC gave to The Verge, "a software-controlled autonomous robot that can perceive its environment, weighs more than 4.4 pounds (inclusive of its dock), travels across the ground and offers wireless connectivity." That language fits nearly every robot vacuum on the market; Engadget and PCMag reported the same reading.
The practical effect is split. Vacuums already on US shelves can keep being sold under the FCC's grandfathering order. Any new model must clear the agency's conditional-approval process, the same waiver track used for restricted wireless routers. The dominant robot-vacuum manufacturers, including China's Roborock and Dreame, are foreign.
Engadget flags the tension: letting today's vacuums keep selling while blocking tomorrow's does not obviously improve the stated security goal of preventing in-home mapping by foreign-made devices. A parallel FCC action on power inverters could reach portable batteries with an AC outlet and a companion app, a category that includes accessory makers such as Anker.