Asked often.
Answered straight.

Often yes, and the date that decides it is 28 July 2026. On that day the FCC added foreign-produced advanced robotic devices to its Covered List, which closed new equipment authorizations. A platform whose FCC authorization was granted before that date keeps its grant and can still be lawfully sold, bought and operated. A foreign platform without a pre-existing grant cannot be newly authorized, which in practice means it cannot be lawfully imported or marketed here. The question to ask any seller is simple: what is the FCC ID, and what is the grant date?

Two groups. First, foreign platforms with verified pre-cutoff FCC grants: Unitree's Go2, Go1, B2 and G1, and the LimX TRON 1 all have grant records we have read in the public database. Second, US-made platforms, which sit outside the rule entirely: Boston Dynamics Spot, Agility Digit and Ghost Robotics Vision 60. The 1X NEO used to sit in that second group here. It does not any more: it is assembled in California but the company is headquartered in Norway and the domestic content share is not published, and the domestic end product test turns on component cost rather than where the screws go in, so we cannot place it either way. A few more models have grants reported just inside the window but not yet independently verified. Our directory page lists all of them with FCC IDs, dates and sources.

A live listing proves nothing about legality. Several platforms are being offered in the US today with no FCC grant record we could find, including models priced near six figures. The seller may hold paperwork we have not seen, so ask them for the FCC ID and check it yourself in the FCC's public equipment authorization search. If they cannot produce one, the listing is the problem, not our directory.

Batteries. Lithium packs above 100 Wh face heavy air-freight restrictions, so most full-size platforms travel by ocean under UN 38.3 documentation. That is roughly 30 to 45 days door to door plus customs clearance, and it is the window we will quote against. Small platforms with modest packs can sometimes fly. Anyone promising two-day delivery on a 60 kg lithium machine is not being straight with you.

Not ourselves. Four kinds of protection will be scoped and quoted alongside the machine: third-party liability for injury or damage the robot causes, physical damage cover for the unit itself, transit and marine cargo cover for the journey here, and an extended service plan beyond the manufacturer warranty. Any insurance line would be underwritten by a licensed carrier and placed by a licensed broker, and any service plan issued by a licensed provider. We are not an insurer, we hold no producer licence, and we never hold the risk. What we contribute is the condition report, serial record and service history that make a claim clean. None of it is in place yet. Each line will be arranged per order once there are licensed people to arrange it with.

A landed, itemized number: the unit at ex-works price, freight, customs duty, tariff, brokerage, commissioning, and any coverage you asked us to scope, each as its own line. Plus the platform's FCC ID and grant date so you can verify its status yourself, the exact hardware revision, the country of production, and the honest lead time. We have not issued a quote yet. That is the shape every one will take, and nothing will be charged before the specification is confirmed in writing.

Yes. The FCC Covered List is a US rule. Buyers in Europe and elsewhere are governed by their own regimes, chiefly CE marking under the EU's radio and machinery frameworks, and several platforms blocked for new US import remain fully available there. For export orders we will quote against the destination country's rules, not ours.

It can. The FCC kept the authority to revoke or restrict earlier authorizations. We track the Covered List for changes now, and the exact FCC ID and hardware revision of every unit we sell will go on the paperwork and stay on our record. If a rule change touches a platform we have quoted or sold, we will tell you directly rather than waiting for you to find out.

Because we have not yet confirmed their grant records against the FCC database, and we will not label something authorized until we have. We also hold no manufacturer agreement yet, so the platform designations on this site are placeholders. When each platform's paperwork is checked, its badge changes, on the card, on the product page, and on the compliance status board, in that order.

Yes, legged robots fall. That is part of the operating envelope, not a defect. It is also why every unit will be photographed and function-tested at commissioning, why common wear parts will be stocked in the United States, why each machine will have a named technician attached to it, and why physical damage cover will be quoted alongside the sale. The plan for the fall matters more than pretending it will not happen.

No, and this is the single most repeated error in the market. On 22 December 2025 the FCC added all foreign-produced uncrewed aircraft systems and their critical components to its Covered List, which closes NEW equipment authorizations for them. The FCC's own fact sheet on that action states it does not prohibit the import, sale or use of models it had previously authorized. So an aircraft authorized before that date keeps its authorization, newly built units of that model may still be lawfully imported and sold, and anything you already own stays lawful to fly. What cannot happen is a new authorization for a new foreign-produced model, or a revision that needs a fresh grant. Owning is not the question. Authorizing is.

No. The comment window on FCC PS Docket 26-189 closed on 2 September 2026 with 3,829 comments filed, 3,770 against and 16 in support. A comment window closing is not a rule arriving. No rule has been adopted, nothing has changed for aircraft that already hold an authorization, and anything you own stays lawful to fly. The bureaus are working on delegated authority and an order could come at any time, or not at all. Anyone who told you last week that your fleet is now illegal was wrong, and anyone telling you the proposal is dead is guessing. A 98.6 percent opposition rate is not a veto.

That is a different question from whether the aircraft is legal, and confusing the two costs deals in both directions. FCC authorization decides whether a device may be imported, marketed or sold at all, and it binds everyone. Procurement law decides who may spend which money on it. The American Security Drone Act reaches federal buyers and federal grant money, the NDAA and the Department of War 1260H list reach defence contracting, and a growing patchwork of state statutes reaches state and local budgets. A private buyer in Florida may lawfully own a Chinese drone. The Florida sheriff's office generally may not buy one. Confirm the rule that binds your own money with your grant officer before you commit it.

They are two different lists, and a seller who says an aircraft is simply Blue UAS listed has not answered your question. If your grant terms or your procurement policy name one list specifically, an aircraft on the other one does not satisfy it. Our drone board names the specific list where we have confirmed it and says plainly where we have not, rather than flattening both into one badge. Ask any seller which list, and ask them to show you the entry.

The Section 232 drone tariffs took effect on 3 September 2026 and are in force. Broadly: 100 percent on drones over 25 kg, on thermal imaging aircraft, on docking stations and on a named list of critical components, and 25 percent on consumer and commercial drones at or under 25 kg. Two things people get wrong. First, the 100 percent tier is not about size, so a small aircraft carrying a thermal camera lands in it; read the payload, not the weight class. Second, the country caps of 15 percent and 10 percent are claimed rather than automatic on country of origin, and reporting on the proclamation says they turn on the aircraft's critical components not being Chinese. A quote that names only a unit price is not a quote any more, it is a starting number.

Almost certainly not, and the reason is worth understanding because it is what most coverage gets wrong. The ground robot test is conjunctive: a device is covered only if it is foreign produced AND weighs more than 4.4 lb (2 kg) including any dock or charging base AND carries environmental sensors AND is networked at 200 kbps or more AND runs autonomous navigation or remote-control software. All five have to be true at once. Miss any one and the rule does not reach the device at all. Nearly everything in the entry tier fails the weight element, which puts it outside the definition whatever the other four say. Note the dock: it counts, and it is what moves a borderline machine across the line.

None. Bonded Robotics has not sold, imported, delivered or commissioned a unit. There is one person here, Bailey Buoniello, and the Manhattan demonstration floor is planned rather than open. What exists today is the compliance research on this site, the sourcing work behind it, and a quote format that names every line of the landed cost. Everything else on these pages is written as what we will do, because that is what it is. Judge the first quote you get from us on whether the numbers hold up, not on a customer list we do not have.