Washington needs to get serious about robotics

After years of treating robotics policy as a novelty or niche concern, Washington is finally beginning to wake up to reality: we cannot win the race for artificial intelligence leadership if we ignore the robotics race.

Artificial intelligence is software. Robotics is hardware. The two are inextricably linked. A national AI strategy that doesn’t include robotics is not a national AI strategy but a mere half-measure. And as China pours state resources into dominating both AI and robotics — with over $350 billion in planned investment made over the past decade as part of its Made in China 2025 initiative — the United States risks falling behind in the physical deployment of smart systems across our economy, from the factory floor to the battlefield.

Fortunately, there are signs of a long-overdue policy shift in the nation’s capital.  Several major think tanks and associations, including the Special Competitive Studies Project, the Association for Advancing Automation, and the Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International, have all recently called for urgent action and attention toward robotics. 

This spring, the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party hosted a “Robotics Symposium,” which marked one of the most focused congressional discussions to date on robotics competitiveness. And in May, a bipartisan group of lawmakers launched a reinvigorated Congressional Robotics Caucus, aiming to educate their colleagues and shape a comprehensive legislative agenda on robotics.

These moves echo growing recognition across government that robotics is essential to our national competitiveness. Just last month, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick rightly called robotics “the future of American manufacturing” and a critical pillar of domestic industrial revitalization. Over 50 organizations mentioned the importance of robotics in their submissions to the White House’s National AI Action Plan, and many expect robotics-related recommendations to be incorporated into the Action Plan. 

But momentum alone isn’t strategy. The U.S. needs a full-fledged national robotics strategy — one that ensures we out-innovate, out-produce, and out-compete global competitors. That means investing in next-generation robotics research and development, rebuilding our advanced manufacturing base, countering unfair trade practices, and equipping the American workforce with the skills to lead in robotics engineering, design, operations, and maintenance. 

An executive order is one way to do this.  An executive order on robotics could meet the moment by mobilizing all relevant government agencies to prioritize robotics policies and unleash America’s robotics industry.  There are several meaningful actions that could help do so, including, but not limited to:

• The Office of Science and Technology, as the leading federal science and technology body, could organize and direct a whole-of-government strategy, establish a central robotics office in government and an interagency working group with academic and industry leaders.

• The Bureau of Industry and Security could investigate unfair trade practices by foreign competitors and recommend policy actions to secure the domestic robotics supply chain.   

• Other agencies, including the National Institute of Standards and Technology, as the nation’s standards setting body, could develop technical standards associated with robotics and automated technologies. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, as the nation’s workplace safety governing body, could issue best practices for the deployment and usage of robotics to give industry increased confidence to buy and sell robotics. 
• The National Science Foundation, as the nation’s scientific research entity, could begin to prioritize grants and awards for applied robotics and support training and education opportunities in robotics.   

Congress could also take a big step this year by establishing a national commission on robotics, akin to successful commissions on key technology fields such as artificial intelligence, cyber and biotechnology, to identify specific recommendations to ensure the U.S. leads and doesn’t fall behind other countries. 

Robotics drives productivity.  It underpins national security. And it is poised to transform sectors ranging from agriculture to elder care. In short, robotics is the physical expression of American ingenuity — and it’s time our policies and strategy reflected that.

Washington must act with urgency. The robotics race is not just a subset of AI — it is the proving ground where AI becomes real.

And it’s a race we can’t afford to lose.

Tony Samp is a Principal Policy Advisor and Head of AI Policy at DLA Piper LLP.  Tony was the founding director of the Senate Artificial Intelligence Caucus and recently helped launch the Congressional Robotics Caucus.