The US Just Banned Imports of Foreign-Made Humanoid Robots. China Is Not Happy.

The FCC has added humanoid robots, robot dogs, and solar power inverters to its list of banned foreign-made devices, citing national security risks. The ban primarily targets Chinese manufacturers, who currently dominate global humanoid robot production by a wide margin. China's Foreign Ministry has responded by saying it will use "all measures necessary" to protect its businesses. A ban aimed at a category China leads decisively is not a symbolic gesture — it directly constrains which hardware US companies and researchers can legally bring into the country.

2  Google DeepMind launched a model that lets robots reason and act simultaneously, instead of pausing to think between each step.

Gemini Robotics ER 2 is Google's new flagship model for robotics, built for high-level reasoning, real-time task tracking, and multi-robot collaboration. Earlier versions paused to think between actions. ER 2 processes continuous video feeds while it works, tracking its own progress and knowing exactly when a task is complete before moving to the next one — closer to how a person actually operates than the stop-think-act cycle most robotics models have used until now. It is available to developers now via the Gemini API. See the model in action.

3  A veterans' organization unveiled a concept for preserving a person's identity in a humanoid robot after death, priced from $300,000.

Veterans First for America's "Digital DNA" concept would use a 40-sensor haptic suit to map a person's movements, vital signs, and skills into a digital profile, then transfer that profile into a humanoid robot or holographic projection posthumously. Licensing plans reportedly range from $300,000 for 100 years to $1M for 500 years. The claims are extraordinary and have not been independently verified — worth reading with that caveat firmly attached rather than treating the pricing structure as evidence the technology works as described.

On patrol. Estonian startup Rollo Robotics unveiled 1ROLLO, a self-balancing monowheel security robot that patrols autonomously for up to eight hours, detects anomalies with 360-degree computer vision, and alerts operators in real time. Its single-wheel design makes it noticeably slimmer than four-wheeled rivals, letting it navigate tight corridors that conventional security robots simply cannot fit through. Watch the design in action.

In the kitchen. German startup Shift is expanding its data collection model from free home cleaning to free gourmet meals. A camera-wearing chef arrives at your home, cooks a three-course meal, and records every knife stroke and hand movement as first-person training data for future robots. The exchange is transparent — a genuinely good meal for footage the company can use to teach robots fine motor skills — and Shift plans to add more free services as it expands its egocentric data library.

Against mosquitoes. Mosquitoes kill more than 700,000 people annually, and current defenses — chemical sprays, traps, genetic modification — all have real limits. Paris-based startup Tornyol is trying a different approach: a tiny autonomous quadcopter that tracks mosquitoes using bat-like ultrasonic sonar and shreds them mid-flight with its propellers. Each unit covers five acres and is built to distinguish harmful mosquito species from harmless ones before engaging.

Waymo weighs a breakup. Waymo is reportedly exploring a split from Uber, threatening the partnership that currently puts its robotaxis on Uber's network in Austin and Atlanta.

DoorDash builds its own wings. DoorDash has launched DoorDash Air, building its own drone delivery aircraft and infrastructure while continuing existing partnerships with Wing and Flytrex.

San Francisco backs federal oversight. Mayor Daniel Lurie is backing federal robotaxi regulation after recent Waymo and Zoox breakdowns exposed real gaps in emergency-response coordination.

Enigma bets on control, not capability. Robotics research lab Enigma raised $71M to build more intuitive robot controls, betting that studying human-robot interaction directly could make operating robots easier than waiting for the robots themselves to get smarter.

Aurora scales freight. Aurora has launched second-generation driverless trucks built for up to 1 million miles, part of a broader push to scale autonomous freight across 10 US Sun Belt routes..