This week, the FCC banned all new "foreign-produced advanced robotic devices" because of an "unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States." The definition of “advanced robotic devices” covers mechanical mobile devices (including autonomous mobile robots) capable of locomotion, obstacle avoidance, navigation, or ground movement; that operate autonomously or remotely; that have sensors to perceive the environment; that have network connectivity; and that (with a docking station) typically exceed a weight threshold around 4.4 pounds / 2 kg. By this definition, robot vacuums fall under these criteria. Had your eye on a new robot vacuum model from a foreign-owned manufacturer? Not so fast, says the FCC.

@TechOperator Thank God for that. I'm happy that now someone in China won't know where my dog food bowl is.

@TechOperator Drones would be in that as well.

@TechOperator That sucks because honestly I posted this a while back but I would love to buy a robot even if its made in China. Maybe I shouldn't have waited and instead spent the money on more swiss watches :(

@TechOperator Did I get my DJI Mini 4K drone just in time? Are drones allowed?

I’ll be honest. I had that same sense of, “what if this vacuum is mapping my house and sending that info back to China.” Same with my security cameras. We shouldn’t need to go through an intermediate server located God knows where just to use our tech. Should be direct com over our local wi-fi, period.

@TechOperator Liz Warren had to block Amazon from saving iRobot, didn’t she? Great products now forever tainted.

@TechOperator Right. And plenty of people have been wary of these things. They range around your home and office with cameras, microphones and lidar, sucking up information as well as debris, connecting with servers in China regularly to help them do their job. But what is their job?

@TechOperator Robot vacuums….

@TechOperator With one push of the red button, China will summon all the roombas in America to suck our brains out 🤣

@TechOperator We can make this stuff here. Thr argument of labor cost is nonsense, since we can simply use more automation to counter the labor cost. And I don’t have a DJI drone, it’s literally flying china spyware.

What’s next the automatic dog feeder will be banned because every time the dog goes to eat “China” secretly whispers shit in its ear and eventually our pets will take over the world under Chinese command. China, Europe and American government agencies get more information from the very item you use to call, post and scroll. I assume the US government is jealous because China gets more information on us than they do. Completely get it if they banned the items from any government and military personnel homes. Since moving to 🇺🇸 and using FB I am amazed at how many times I can open my phone and I get ads on items I have never searched for but spoken to friends and family about and then suddenly there is an ad for the very product. There was once an as about a franchise business not just the business but an advert specifically about buying a franchise for that company. Privacy is not a thing in the USA and if China was that desperate they would just buy our data from all the companies that sell it anyway. Now time to climb in my Tesla talk to grok and hope now one is tracking my every moving and posting the FSD miles accumulated online.

@TechOperator Why ban stuff. Just put a reasonable tariff so the price is competitive with US made versions

@TechOperator Already have one.

@TechOperator My Dreame L10 has been a game changer. I wonder if I should buy a replacement now even though it has lots of life left

@TechOperator So no more cheap Chinese robot vacuums, even if they don’t contain any antennas so they can be controlled remotely or send back information? Seems excessive.

@TechOperator Too late for this, CCP and the government already taken over our cars, say the guy with the gas car

@TechOperator The FCC is doing great, if we want to be North Korea. Since I don't want to be North Korea, F the government...

@TechOperator They suck anyway, literally, have never had one that worked worth a crap and we have had some of the expensive models.

@TechOperator I put out a video about this yesterday. youtu.be/6T3PgIl2KeE

@TechOperator Eufy makes the best robot vacuum I’ve ever used no doubt there a Chinese company I’ve never looked into it

Not a problem, we got Matic now. I got one just over a year ago, it's a US company, assembled in the US, and it's the absolute best robot vacuum on the market. Like Tesla's FSD, it navigates with vision and a brain, with frequent OTA updates (I think it even has NVIDA Jetson chips). My wife even loves it! 😆 @maticrobots @nvidia

@TechOperator My wife and I had the same discussion 5 years ago. I wouldn’t let it in the WiFi.

@TechOperator Just get a Matic. @maticrobots makes the best vacuum anyway.

Unlock your money’s potential with Robinhood Gold. $5/month subscription. Terms apply.