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Robovations
Robovations™
Robot Autonomy, Classified
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Market Outlook

Quarterly since Q1 2026

Once a quarter, we read back everything our Tracker recorded in those three months. Each issue reports what changed for the people who own these robots.

Issue 3 · Q3 2026 · July to September

Which robots can still cross the border?

In August the FCC's Covered List reached consumer robots for the first time, barring a pool cleaner from import and leaving a lawn mower with no US release date. A California vacuum maker confirmed that its machine still fails the agency's domestic-content test. In September the FCC granted its first exemption, to a lawn mower maker.

Read Issue 3

Published October 1, 2026

Issue 3 examines

  • Which robots does a new federal import rule actually stop?
  • Why did humanoid makers raise billions while their shares fell?
  • What do four separate security disclosures have in common?

Also in Issue 3 An import rule reaches the backyard and the poolOn the record at the close of SeptemberThe quarter in numbers

Every issue

Three issues, oldest first. One a quarter.

  1. Q1 2026

    A house and its garden drawn cut open like a model: a robot vacuum on the living-room rug, a mopping robot at its dock in the kitchen, a window robot on the kitchen window, and a robot mower beside its garage on the lawn.

    Issue 1 · January to March

    Wire-free mowers reach retail while humanoids stay industrial

    Q1 2026 put the Segway Navimow X4 into North American retail and brought 14 robots their first published Robovations assessment.

    Published February 28, 2026Corrected September 2026

  2. Q2 2026

    A maker’s service counter: between two open, lit windows where robots sit under work lamps, the middle window is shuttered with a blank notice taped to it and its lamp dark, and a robot vacuum waits on its ledge beside a service bell.

    Issue 2 · April to June

    Who stands behind the robot you bought?

    iRobot spent its first full quarter under a new owner. Italy opened an inquiry into the shutdown of Neato’s cloud.

    First published June 11, 2026New edition September 25, 2026

  3. Q3 2026

    Issue 3 · July to SeptemberCurrent issue

    Which robots can still cross the border?

    In August the FCC's Covered List reached consumer robots for the first time, barring a pool cleaner from import and leaving a lawn mower with no US release date.

    Published October 1, 2026

  4. Q4 2026

    Issue 4 · October to December

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    Four emails a year, one when each issue is published. Nothing in between.

How the outlook is made

Each issue is built from the entries our Tracker recorded in its quarter and the robot records they concern. Its charts and tables are computed from those records, and every correction is printed on the issue itself.

Evidence standards