US distributor of China’s most popular humanoid robots pivots after US ban

美国最受欢迎中国人形机器人分销商在禁令后转型

A leading US distributor of China’s most popular humanoid robots and robot dogs now plans to produce its own robots at a facility on Long Island, New York. The business pivot comes amid the US government’s growing crackdown on foreign-made robots. 作为中国最受欢迎的人形机器人和机器狗的美国领先分销商，该公司目前计划在纽约长岛的一处设施内生产自主研发的机器人。此次业务转型正值美国政府对外国制造机器人采取日益严厉的打击措施之际。

The company, RoboStore, had previously become the main North American distributor for humanoid robots and quadruped robots from Unitree Robotics, a Chinese robotics company that produces some of the most affordable and popular humanoid robot models. Universities like Harvard and MIT, along with tech companies like Amazon and Nvidia, purchased such robots made in China through RoboStore for their own research and development purposes. RoboStore 此前是宇树科技（Unitree Robotics）在北美的核心分销商。宇树科技是一家中国机器人公司，生产着一些性价比最高且最受欢迎的人形机器人型号。哈佛大学、麻省理工学院等高校，以及亚马逊和英伟达等科技公司，都曾通过 RoboStore 购买这些中国制造的机器人，用于各自的研发工作。

“We’ve sold over 1,500 robots and deployed them and worked with customers like Cisco, OpenAI, Nvidia, and over 150 universities,” Teddy Haggerty, founder and CEO of RoboStore, told Ars. But on August 10, RoboStore announced a major shift in its business strategy, with plans to fully open a 66,000-square-foot facility for manufacturing commercial robots by the first fiscal quarter of 2027. It also launched a new company called Robo Inc. to oversee the new robotics manufacturing and systems integration business. RoboStore 创始人兼首席执行官 Teddy Haggerty 在接受 Ars 采访时表示：“我们已经售出了超过 1,500 台机器人，并与思科、OpenAI、英伟达以及 150 多所大学等客户进行了部署与合作。”然而，8 月 10 日，RoboStore 宣布了重大的业务战略调整，计划在 2027 年第一财季前全面启用一处占地 6.6 万平方英尺的商用机器人制造工厂。同时，该公司还成立了一家名为 Robo Inc. 的新公司，负责监管新的机器人制造和系统集成业务。

Making the pivot

转型之路

Haggerty and his team had already started thinking about the possibility of starting up their own robotics manufacturing business about a year ago. While supporting customers’ deployment and integration requests, they had gained insights into how customers were thinking about using robots for specific applications. They also believed they could help more companies integrate industry-specific robots in ways that made sense for their businesses, rather than simply trying one of the many humanoid robots being pitched as a general-purpose solution for everything. 大约一年前，Haggerty 和他的团队就开始考虑创办自主机器人制造业务的可能性。在支持客户的部署和集成需求时，他们深入了解了客户如何构思将机器人用于特定应用场景。他们还认为，与其盲目尝试那些被宣传为“万能方案”的人形机器人，不如帮助更多企业以符合自身业务逻辑的方式集成行业专用机器人。

“Companies like Standard Bots and Universal Robots have a robotic arm for specific use cases,” Haggerty told Ars. “And I will tell anyone that that product is better suited for most businesses, for what they want to achieve, than a humanoid robot.” “像 Standard Bots 和 Universal Robots 这样的公司拥有针对特定用例的机械臂，”Haggerty 对 Ars 说，“我会告诉任何人，对于大多数企业想要实现的目标而言，这种产品比人形机器人更合适。”

The team accelerated plans to open a robotics manufacturing facility as the US government moved toward restricting or banning foreign-made robots. US lawmakers introduced legislation like the American Security Robotics Act in the Senate in March, followed by the GUARD Act in the House of Representatives in June. The biggest development so far came in July, when the US Federal Communications Commission banned the imports of new models of foreign-made robots, including popular robot vacuum cleaners and Unitree’s humanoid robots and robot dogs. 随着美国政府逐步限制或禁止外国制造的机器人，该团队加快了开设机器人制造工厂的计划。美国立法者于 3 月在参议院提出了《美国安全机器人法案》（American Security Robotics Act），随后于 6 月在众议院提出了《GUARD 法案》。迄今为止最大的进展发生在 7 月，当时美国联邦通信委员会（FCC）禁止进口新型外国制造的机器人，包括流行的扫地机器人以及宇树科技的人形机器人和机器狗。

The move was justified along national security lines because of potential cybersecurity vulnerabilities, but also clearly geared toward encouraging companies to produce more robots in the United States. By that time, RoboStore had already shut down its distribution business while still promising to continue supporting customers needing parts, repairs, and upgrades for their existing robot models. The team’s focus shifted to developing robots and building out manufacturing capacity. 此举以潜在的网络安全漏洞为由，从国家安全角度进行了辩护，但也显然旨在鼓励企业在美国本土生产更多机器人。到那时，RoboStore 已经关闭了其分销业务，但承诺继续为需要零部件、维修和升级现有机器人型号的客户提供支持。团队的工作重心已转向机器人研发和制造能力的建设。

Working toward commercial robots

迈向商用机器人

Under the Robo Inc. banner, the team is developing and testing several different robotic products. Those include a humanoid torso on top of a chassis with wheels that is designed for the healthcare industry and concierge services. Such a robot would come equipped with cameras and sensors to help take a patient’s standard vital signs, such as temperature and blood oxygen level. Other initial products include a specialized quadruped for security applications and a humanoid robot platform for educators and researchers. 在 Robo Inc. 的旗帜下，该团队正在开发和测试几种不同的机器人产品。其中包括一款专为医疗行业和礼宾服务设计的、安装在轮式底盘上的人形躯干机器人。这种机器人将配备摄像头和传感器，以帮助测量患者的标准生命体征，如体温和血氧水平。其他初步产品还包括用于安防领域的专用四足机器人，以及面向教育工作者和研究人员的人形机器人平台。

“Universities are looking for a US-compliant product,” Haggerty said. “So we’ve taken everything we’ve learned from being easily the largest distribution channel for education for robotics.” “大学正在寻找符合美国标准的产品，”Haggerty 说，“因此，我们运用了作为教育机器人领域最大分销渠道所积累的一切经验。”

The team’s engineers have already used 3D printing to help build robot prototypes that are being tested by certain customers. They expect to be able to produce commercial versions of such robots from their new dedicated facility by early 2027. Commercialization and manufacturing scaling challenges lie ahead. But before then, Robo Inc. is also working toward its first big round of raising funding after having spent years as a bootstrapped business without outside investor money. 团队工程师已经利用 3D 打印技术构建了机器人原型，并正在由部分客户进行测试。他们预计到 2027 年初，能够在其新的专用设施中生产这些机器人的商用版本。商业化和制造规模化挑战依然存在。但在那之前，Robo Inc. 也在努力进行其首轮大规模融资，此前该公司多年来一直依靠自有资金运营，未引入外部投资者。

“We’ve reached out to all these customers, and we have an incredible interest now as we’re going through the process of raising money,” Haggerty said. “It definitely helps, 100 percent.” “我们已经联系了所有这些客户，在融资过程中，我们感受到了极大的兴趣，”Haggerty 说，“这绝对有帮助，百分之百。”