It's great to see momentum building in Washington DC for policies that will support the success of the US robotics industry. I was honored to have my views quoted in this @politico article on recent developments and future aspirations.

While American politicians race to impose data center bans and endless layers of AI restrictions -- while also now entertaining the idea of “robot taxes,” -- the Robot Olympics were held in China this week. You may have seen some of the video clips from the games this week on social media and laughed as some of the robots wiped out, or even just failed to work at all. You shouldn't laugh too hard. As Yascha Mounk notes in his dispatch from Beijing, “There are few Westerners at the Robot Games; both the engineers and the spectators are mostly Chinese.” He asked two engineering students from Europe “Can the robots at your university do anything like this?” “No,” one of them answered, looking a little deflated. “They’re way ahead of us here.” And the Chinese are way ahead of America, too. So, while those robots may look silly today as they stumble and fall, the Chinese developers are learning fast from all that experimentation. Some of their humanoid bots are already superior to humans in many competitions. How do you think this plays out for the United States in the end if we continue to fall behind? We're currently living in a nation where China's DJI already controls 80% of our commercial drone market because our misguided policy choices wouldn't let American entrepreneurs get their innovations off the ground (quite literally). So, the Chinese already have the flying robot market firmly in hand even though America could have been the global leader there. And now American leaders -- especially state and local officials -- are looking to regulate and tax AI and embodied AI (robotics) into the ground. That'll just make Chinese global dominance of robotics even easier. Because AI and robotics are the most important dual-use technologies of this era, these policy decisions have massive ramifications for our nation's technology base and, by extension, our security. As they say, progress is a choice. National security is an even bigger one. America is choosing badly. writing.yaschamounk.com/p/a-…

American companies are not taking this moment seriously enough. China is an adversary. These are weapons. They get better with deployment data.

Humanoid robots are officially grounded across major US carriers. American Airlines has joined United, Delta, and Southwest in explicitly banning humanoid and animal-like robots from commercial cabins. The industry-wide push cites severe lithium-ion fire risks and closes emotional support loopholes—following the viral stunt where Aaron Mehdizadeh flew his Booster K1 ("Stewie") on Southwest.

San Mateo County just unanimously voted to draft humanoid robot regulations, and the details are aggressive. The proposed ordinance threatens to completely upend the remote teleoperation business model. Key mandates from the resolution: • Robots MUST be supervised at all times by a "trained, on-site human." • Businesses must pay a "County Automation Impact Fee" to fund worker retraining. • Annual fees will fund specialized HazMat gear for high-heat lithium-ion battery fires. Startups launching $30/hr remote cleaning services next door in SF just hit a massive legislative wall. The regulatory race for physical AI has started.

Path has signed a $600M+ agreement with @wearehii (part of the $900M HII HYPR project). When I started Path eight years ago, I believed AI and robotics could give the world abundant skilled labor, helping people build the things that matter. Stronger infrastructure. A revitalized industrial base. The ships, factories, and critical systems our country depends on. Today is a major step toward that vision. In this agreement we'll deliver not only welding, but also dexterous assembly, enabling raw components to be turning into finished products. Unlocking throughput that was previously impossible, and unthinkable, without physical AI. Path was never just a welding company. The goal was always physical AI for all manufacturing and excited to take that next step at scale. Time to keep building.

Next do drones under 250 grams

Newly released PLA Navy footage features a robotic dog equipped with two portable rocket launchers.

NIST is coordinating a humanoids benchmarking competition for IEEE Humanoids 2026 and HRI 2027 - but we have space for additional competitions - Submission deadline is August 3rd! Call for Competitions: 2026.ieee-humanoids.org/call…

A lot of these takes are missing the point of a generalized humanoid robot. Being able to mass produce a single variant that can do many tasks (and once one learns a new task, you can propagate it to all of them) is that mass production is going to drive the cost down to a point where you don't care that it can't do everything better than the specific machine, because it can do 10 other things to 80% efficiency as well

BREAKING: This person spreads misinformation because this is an art installation called "Dynamics of a Dog on a Leash" by Takayuki Todo @toodooda and not what is being described. piped.video/watch?v=Y5jYFLDJ… ars.electronica.art/panic/en…

It’s definitely a knee jerk reaction to pass a law to prevent all NY schools from using humanoid robots as teaching tools over a controversial pilot that hasn’t happened. The planned deployment (currently paused due to backlash) at Salamanca’s high school is for a class on AI and robotics. It’s part of Steve Wozniak’s STEM pathways program. The AI would be locally hosted and the robot would serve as a tutor. It’s definitely understandable why it makes people uncomfortable. Ultra-realistic robots are divisive. But in the context of the subject, it’s not any creepier than the models they use in anatomy class. The plans generated publicity (maybe unwanted) for Realbotix’s past association with Real Dolls. The company tries to distance itself from it today, under new ownership, but their history and corporate structure are genuinely convoluted. It’s impossible. Regardless, the cited reason for the pause is student data privacy and the bill is about protecting the job security of teachers. The pilot was not a threat to anyone’s job but what it could manifest into could be. If the students genuinely did better with an AI robot tutor, then it’s harder to weigh a human teaching assistant’s salary over students’ future.

State Senator Shelley Mayer introduced legislation S.10671 to prohibit the use of robots in NY schools. Link below. My statement is as follows: Tech enhances classrooms. Computers, interactive tools and AI. Robots are simply the next step. Tools designed to support teachers, engage students in STEM, and give them hands-on experience with emerging technology. They assist educators, not replace them. Especially with growing class sizes and teacher shortages nationwide. What concerns me about Senate Bill S10671 is that it was introduced without anyone involved having seen the tech or evaluated a pilot. The robot that prompted this bill has not even been deployed. Making a sweeping prohibition on that basis, before any facts or evidence exist, is premature. @RealbotixCorp welcomes the chance to demo the tech and discuss it with legislators so policy can be based on knowledge, not assumption. I estimate 90% of the news on this issue contains inaccurate and fake facts. To put forth a bill based on #fakenews is just virtue signaling. yonkerstimes.com/state-senat…

Announcing Steel Bot: we are building open, fully-programmable, bipedal humanoids as an open development platform for researchers and startups. Fully designed and made right here in the Unites States of America 🇺🇸 @steelbot_

The former US National Security Advisor is advocating for a National Strategic Investment Fund with an initial capitalization of $50 Billion I tend to agree

Strong support pouring in for the FCC’s Covered List update on foreign-produced advanced robotics and power inverters. National security agencies flagged real risks to critical infrastructure and supply chains. Stakeholders from Congress to industry are applauding the action.

🎥 @BrendanCarrFCC joins @NBCNews to talk about following @POTUS’ lead in securing U.S. critical supply chains—including advanced robotic devices: “We’re acting relatively early, so that we don’t discover, 5-10 years from now, that we’re too dependent on foreign-produced tech.”

FACT SHEET —Today, the FCC updated its Covered List to include two new categories of devices—“advanced robotic devices” (defined as mobile robots, such as humanoids and quadrupeds) and, separately, connected power inverters produced in foreign countries. Read more 🧵⬇️

Pledge fulfilled to ban the robots, but under a slightly different rule.