A Section 232 proclamation finds that imports of robotics and industrial machinery threaten national security but sets no tariffs yet. Commerce and USTR have 180 days to negotiate and report. Anyone buying robots or machine tools for a 2027 project should price this risk in now.
Honeywell Aerospace will build a $500 million, 300,000-square-foot plant on its Tempe campus, opening late 2028 with about 600 jobs. The site will use modular robotics, automated inspection, digital twins and a digital thread, and will add in-house complex machining because that supply base is constrained. This is aerospace manufacturing, not the Forge software platform.
Otto Group will deploy ten AI-controlled dual-arm robots from Sereact to sort returns at its logistics center in Poland, with 15 more planned based on first results for a total of 25. Sereact runs and maintains them as a service, and staff move to supervision, exceptions and quality checks. Results-gated rollouts are how robot deals are getting signed.
DTL Transport, a Fresno long-haul carrier, signed a binding deal to run the Kodiak Driver in 75 driverless trucks it owns and operates, paying Kodiak a per-mile fee. Service starts on I-10 between Dallas and El Paso and I-20 between Dallas and Atlanta, after a September pilot hauling produce from Fresno to Los Angeles. A carrier putting its own fleet and per-mile money behind driverless freight says more than another pilot.
