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 be sold in the United States. The stated grounds for the restrictions are Cybersecurity and Supply-chain risk.The unstated ground is arithmetic. Chinese manufacturers account for roughly 85 per cent of the global humanoid market. There is no established American industry to protect, only an infant to be raised behind a wall.