US robot makers hope to beat China in humanoid race. Tariffs could
affect their ambitions
[May 02, 2025] By
MATT O'BRIEN
BOSTON (AP) — Tariffs weren't on the agenda of this week's Robotics
Summit, where thousands of tech industry workers mingled with humanoid
and other robot varieties and talked about how to build and sell a new
generation of increasingly autonomous machines.
Not on the official agenda, at least.
“Jump up to the microphones,” said keynote speaker Aaron Saunders, chief
technology officer of Boston Dynamics, inviting a standing-room-only
crowd to ask him questions. "And I’m the CTO, so don’t ask me about
tariffs."
The crowd laughed and complied. But as they streamed onto the show floor
at Boston's convention center, greeted by a remote-controlled humanoid
made by Chinese company Unitree, it was hard to ignore the shadow of
President Donald Trump's far-reaching global tariffs and retaliatory
measures from Trump's biggest target, China.
Tariffs are the “No. 1 topic that we’re discussing in the hallways and
at the water cooler with people that I’ve known for a long time,” said
event organizer Steve Crowe, chair of the annual Robotics Summit & Expo.
“I think it’s definitely top of mind, because there’s so much
uncertainty about what is going to come.”
That concern is rooted in a robot's complex anatomy of motors and
actuators to move their limbs, computers to power their artificial
intelligence, and sensing devices to help them react to their
surroundings. Sensors, semiconductors, batteries and rare earth magnets
are among the array of components most sensitive to global trade
disputes.
Tesla CEO and billionaire Trump adviser Elon Musk warned investors last
week that China's countermeasures restricting shipments of rare earth
magnets will delay Tesla's development of its Optimus humanoid robots.
At the summit on Wednesday and Thursday, some humanoid makers were
looking at a potential bright side to the geopolitical shifts as
American businesses look harder for domestic supplies of parts and the
development of U.S.-based robots that can automate factories and
warehouses.
“It’s added some inconveniences to our own supply chain. But it’s also
opened up opportunities,” said Pras Velagapudi, chief technology officer
at Oregon-based Agility Robotics, in an interview. The company is
starting to deploy its humanoid robot, called Digit, at a U.S. plant run
by German manufacturer Schaeffler, a maker of ball bearings and other
components key to the auto industry.
Al Makke, a director of engineering for Schaeffler's chassis systems,
said tariffs could push many companies toward onshoring production of a
variety of items in the U.S.
“And if that does happen, then local companies have to deal with high
labor costs and a shortage of labor and so automation gets pushed
further,” Makke said. “And one of those faces of automation is
humanoids.”
[to top of second column] |
A Unitree robot shakes hands with a convention guest at the Robotics
Summit & Expo, Wednesday, April 30, 2025, in Boston. (AP
Photo/Charles Krupa)
 Most of the big industrial robots
employed in the U.S. are used to help make cars, and are imported
from countries such as Japan, Germany or South Korea.
Automakers in the U.S. installed 9.6% more robots in their plants
than a year before, according to new data from the International
Federation of Robotics, a trade group.
For now, humanoids are still a niche but one that invites intense
curiosity, in part thanks to popular science fiction. Saunders, of
Hyundai-owned Boston Dynamics, presented an update Wednesday on the
development of its Atlas humanoid robot but didn't bring a physical
prototype, instead showing off a more familiar pack of its
four-legged Spot robots contained in a pen on the show floor.
The sole humanoid at the conference was Unitree's G1. Marketed for
$16,000 and remote-controlled by an employee standing nearby, the
robot fluidly shook hands, waved back at people and walked around
the show floor, but it won't be moving totes or working in a factory
anytime soon.
Its main customers outside China are academic researchers and some
social media influencers, and Trump's current tariffs totaling 145%
on China would raise its cost to American buyers to roughly $40,000,
said Tony Yang, a Unitree vice president of business development who
manages its North American sales. Nevertheless, Unitree's strategy
to rapidly develop its hardware and software is a long-term one.
“It’s still a very narrow market, but I think there's still a huge
potential market on the industry side, like for manufacturing and
factory and even home use,” Yang said.
At a full pickleball court on the show floor, some conference
attendees took a break to grab a racket and swing at balls tossed by
a wheeled robot. Asked to describe what's inside the Tennibot robot,
its maker also had tariffs on the mind.
“Injection molded parts, rivets, screws, nuts, wheels, motors,
batteries,” said Haitham Eletrabi, co-founder and CEO of Tennibot,
based in Auburn, Alabama. “The supply chain gets very complex. We
get parts from all over the world. Tariffs are adding a lot of
uncertainty.”
It's not just the U.S.-China trade rivalry that was weighing on some
attendees. Francesca Torsiello, of the recruitment firm Adapt
Talent, said she's also hearing more wariness from Canadian robotics
and engineering candidates about taking jobs in the U.S. amid a
tense political environment.
“In the past, people in Canada found it attractive to come and work
for U.S. companies; right now they’re being very hesitant,”
Torsiello said.
————
AP video journalist Rodrique Ngowi contributed to this report.
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
