The FCC robot ban's 4.4-pound threshold sweeps in robot vacuums.

Follow-up reporting on July 29 surfaced the operative definition: an "advanced robotic device" is any software-controlled autonomous robot that perceives its environment, weighs more than 4.4 lbs including its dock, travels across the ground, and offers wireless connectivity. That captures essentially the entire robot vacuum category, whose top brands are Chinese-owned. Existing units keep working and current models can still be sold, but any new model requires a waiver. Stated rationale: devices that map homes, carry cameras, and stay cloud-connected are a data-security exposure.