America bans imported robots due to supply chain and security risks

The US government has decided to effectively ban the sale of advanced robots made in other nations. The decision trickled out over two days with publication of a National Security Determination [PDF] and an update [PDF] to the list of banned devices set by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The national security …

[Bebu sa Ware]

Another footshot ?

From what I can determine the PRC's manufacturing has advanced in leaps and bound in terms of quality and cost by leveraging cheaper domestic automation technology (robots.) EV and battery production being prime examples. The Chinese have a looming demographic problem in common with most of the developed world of an aging and declining population which will impact their industrial worker base sooner rather than later.

The US by banning imports of those same robots (and any other foreign robots) is going to have to repeat the development of the Chinese or license the technology (it's not rocket science but it is still non·trivial engineering.) Restricting robot production to the US will inevitably mean higher prices and costs.

More of a self inflicted head shot I suspect.

[Blazde]

Re: Another footshot ?

Like you say, their demographic problem increasingly means that for high-tech small-run manufacturing China isn't really cheap any more. Besides it seems we're only talking finally assembly. The feedback actuators, Wifi modules, CPUs, titanium rods,and so on are commodity. Realistically the software will be the duplication effort, and that's exactly what's intended. The physics is pretty-much reverse engineer by sight.

[Bebu sa Ware]

Another footshot ?

From what I can determine the PRC's manufacturing has advanced in leaps and bound in terms of quality and cost by leveraging cheaper domestic automation technology (robots.) EV and battery production being prime examples. The Chinese have a looming demographic problem in common with most of the developed world of an aging and declining population which will impact their industrial worker base sooner rather than later.

The US by banning imports of those same robots (and any other foreign robots) is going to have to repeat the development of the Chinese or license the technology (it's not rocket science but it is still non·trivial engineering.) Restricting robot production to the US will inevitably mean higher prices and costs.

More of a self inflicted head shot I suspect.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Another footshot ?

Are you referring to the policy, or your duplicate post?

[Anonymous Coward]

Hmmm

No cheap illegals working the fields.

No relatively cheap Chinese robots working the fields.

No good ole ‘mericans working the fields.

Who needs fields anyway?

[just4this]

Re: Hmmm

Wrigley.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Hmmm

“I hate Illinois Nazis”

[Paul Herber]

Re: Hmmm

Fields? Weren't they those things from the olden days where we now have data centres, refuse tips, oil fields and shale mines?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Hmmm

Heck no, fields are basically the new hipster escape route. Break away from the rat race and produce goods more "organic" goods, people will pay more for it and if you utilize the right technologies it isn't the back breaking work it used to be. This is basically the same all over the world unless you have a big food/tech corpo trying to put small farms out of business or poisoning all the water sources :(

[Paul Herber]

Re: Hmmm

s/or/and/

FTFY

[Paul Herber]

Re: Hmmm

Mr Downvoter is right! My substitution would have also converted world to wandld, work to wandk, corpo into candpo and 2 instances of more into mande.

I resign.

But then who doesn't prefer wandk to work?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Hmmm

Aren't oil fields still fields?

According to google, America could cut its grain production by 141 million metric tons* per year without suffering any decrease in local food production. Of course, I don't know how countries like Mexico, Japan, and Columbia would survive.

* - https://agtransport.usda.gov/stories/s/Grain-Exports-Dashboard/pzi6-33a4/

[just4this]

Add to list....

...and notes that modern bots are now constantly connected to networks “which creates broad attack surfaces…

It’s a good job those made in China Trump phones don’t connect to networks then

, eh?

[alain williams]

Please will they let in one last batch ...

to replace Trump and his cronies. They could hardly do a worse job!

[jake]

Does that mean ...

... they are sending Elon Musk back to South Africa?

_{I'm fairly certain Canada doesn't want him either.}

[blu3b3rry]

Re: Does that mean ...

Does anyone want Elon Musk?

[trevorde]

Unhackable robot

Man in a spandex suit

[MachDiamond]

Re: Unhackable robot

"Man in a spandex suit"

hmmmmm, I think if you offer them another "man" in a spandex suit, you could influence its behavior.

[Pascal Monett]

Why don't you just ban the rest of the world while you're at it ?

And I'm going to love seeing how you're going to cope with the consequences.

[TheMaskedMan]

Logical, I suppose - thousands of potentially subvertible killing machines running around poses at least a theoretical threat. Imagine how much chaos you could cause by making them all go rogue at once.

But wait, what's this about battlefields? Since when was uncle Sam threatening to put humanoids on the battlefield? Haven't they seen terminator??

[stiine]

Never mind 'going rogue', it would be sufficient to make them simply slow down appreciably, or stop altogether.

[just4this]

“thousands of potentially subvertible killing machines running around poses at least a theoretical threat”

Do you mean self driving cars or armed voters?

Unfortunately both fit the description.

[VoiceOfTruth]

I don't care if the USA bans Chinese imports of anything

I care if the American regime tries to inflict its policy on so-called allied or friendly nations. We would have better and cheaper 5G in the UK if the little princes didn't kowtow to Washington hegemony.

We would probably have nuclear power stations delivered on time and on budget too, as China has experience and depth of knowledge in that field that makes us look like cavemen in comparison.

Canada thought it was playing ball by detaining a Huawei executive. All it got in return was a broken trade treaty and tariffs as an overtly stated threat to take it over.

Bullies should never be sucked up to.

[Paul Herber]

Re: I don't care if the USA bans Chinese imports of anything

USA should ban China exporting missile systems to Iran.

<you and whose Republican People's Liberation Army?>

[stiine]

Re: I don't care if the USA bans Chinese imports of anything

You're right, we should only permit export of munitions to Northern Ireland. Do you think they'd go after the docks first, or the power distribution network?

[Paul Herber]

Re: I don't care if the USA bans Chinese imports of anything

I was talking about the Romans!

[Persona]

Re: I don't care if the USA bans Chinese imports of anything

I've already got a Chinese car. I plan to buy/lease my first humanoid robot (probably Chinese) in 2031.

[seven of five]

Re: I don't care if the USA bans Chinese imports of anything

> I've already got a Chinese car.

Volvo, Lotus or MG?

[heyrick]

It makes sense...

...that no country should accept potentially critical infrastructure from a country considered unreliable or potentially hostile, especially if they have the ability to killswitch things in a heartbeat in order to try to get their own way over something.

Europe got the memo. We're slowly (very slowly) untangling ourselves from American tech.

[Tron]

We're slowly (very slowly) untangling ourselves from American tech.

The Mac OS, Windows, Android and the Linux kernel are all based in the US.

Still, there is always HarmonyOS.

[MachDiamond]

Unitree bad

Benn Jordan did an interesting dive into a Unitree robodog. The software appears to be as shifty as a VW trying to dodge honest emissions testing.

[Paul Herber]

Re: Unitree bad

Are you saying the software doesn't have a very good pedigree?

[MachDiamond]

Re: Unitree bad

"Are you saying the software doesn't have a very good pedigree?"

They might have put more effort into trying to conceal the phoning home that they didn't have the budget left to make the best product.

What breed? All of them.

[Paul Herber]

Re: Unitree bad

Release the robodog hounds!

[CrazyOldCatMan]

"Department of War"

Is not a thing (legally) since Congress seems to have failed to bow down to the Orange Buffoon on that point.

I can call myself "Babboon-face Mangroveswamp" if I like but, unless I do the deed-poll legalities it's, unsuprisingly, not my legal name.