The FCC has exempted 13 companies' foreign-made robots since July, and Omron and Husqvarna had to apply too

Thirteen robot makers have won exemptions from the US ban on new foreign-produced robots, according to the Federal Communications Commission's Covered List as updated on Oct. 30. Six of them came in that one notice, among them Omron for its LD-150 and LD-300 robot platforms, Ati Robotics for five Sherpa platforms and Lightberry for its Lumi robots. Husqvarna was the first, cleared on Sept. 9 for four of its IQ robotic platforms.

Reuters described the July rule as a bar on new models of Chinese robots. The FCC's own wording covers "foreign-produced advanced robotic devices" from any country, and the one way out is a Conditional Approval from the Department of War. Each approval depends on "compliance with the onshoring plan" in the company's application and on updated vetting of its products, the FCC says. Omron's and Husqvarna's robots go through the same gate as Chinese ones, and the price of passing is a commitment to build in the US.

The clearance can be taken back

Approvals that carry no end date stay in force indefinitely as long as the company keeps to its onshoring plan, the notice says. Failing to follow the plan, or a false statement in the application, can end the approval and put the equipment back on the list. For the six robot approvals of Oct. 30, the conditions also hold "unless superseded by another National Security Determination."

Companies have started selling the clearance itself. Ati Robotics, headquartered in Madison Heights, Michigan, announced its approval on Nov. 6 and said US customers this year kept asking "will this robot be cleared to ship and be serviced long term" before payload or price. Founder and CEO Saurabh Chandra said Ati was already planning to make its robots in the US and took a larger site in Michigan earlier this year.

Two companies, two counts of cleared humanoids

The FCC list does not say which of the approved machines are humanoids, and the first two companies to claim the label disagree. Lightberry said on Oct. 30 that it is "the first, and so far only, humanoid robot company to be approved." Ati said a week later that its Sherpa Mecha, a dual-arm mobile manipulator that retrieves bins and handles parts, is "one of only two humanoid robots cleared" and the only one built for factory work.

Lightberry's release shows what passing the review took. The San Francisco company says it replaces the robot's sensors, onboard computer and software with its own, and that its US manufacturing starts with Lumi's body, head and hands, with the rest of the robot to follow. The same release promotes Lumi's compatibility with Unitree's G1.

Unitree, UBTECH and AgiBot are not among the 13 names. Any of them could apply on the same terms, which would mean filing an onshoring plan with the Department of War.