The U.S. wants to compete with China on humanoid robots. It won't be easy.

美国想在人形机器人赛道与中国竞争，这并非易事

China dominates the humanoid robot supply chain, making it hard for the U.S. to catch up. Unitree's U.S. distributor Teddy Haggerty started Robo Inc. to assemble robots on Long Island, but admits it's unrealistic to exclude Chinese parts—batteries and aluminum frames are far cheaper to import. Unitree's flagship humanoid retails under $14,000; Unitree and Agibot together produced about 10,000 units last year, while top U.S. firms made only a few hundred. The FCC banned imports of new foreign-made humanoid robots on national security grounds last month, but U.S.-made supply is still tiny. China's lead is built on billions in government funding and its EV supply chain, a cost advantage U.S. startups can't match.

Why it matters: NYT supply chain deep-dive with concrete production and pricing comparisons, not a press release. Hits all three HKR axes, but as industry analysis rather than a product launch, falls in the 78-84 band per policy.