No United States federal statute governs robots as such, and the agencies say so in their own words
The federal government reaches robots sideways. OSHA has no robot standard and its inspectors are sent to private consensus standards and the general machine guarding rule. NHTSA regulates driverless vehicles one exemption at a time. The White House AI Action Plan treats robotics as manufacturing policy. Nothing in between binds a robot maker as a robot maker.
The verdict
Absent
The ledger searched and found no instrument. The record says where it looked and when.
Where the ledger looked: On 15 September 2026 the atlas read OSHA's Technical Manual chapter on industrial robots, which names ANSI and RIA R15.06 as the safety standard for robots and cites 29 CFR 1910.212 rather than any robot rule of OSHA's own; read NHTSA's Federal Register notice of 31 July 2026, which regulates automated vehicles through exemptions under 49 U.S.C. 30113 and a crash reporting order rather than a driving automation standard; and read the July 2025 AI Action Plan, whose only robotics action is a Commerce supply chain convening. congress.gov, the US Code search and the govinfo search refused scripted fetches from this machine, so no claim is made here about individual bills.
Key facts
What the sources say
- Record ID
- PAG-2026-0013
- Kind
- Binding law
- Jurisdiction
- United States
- Last verified
- Added
- OSHA's own manual points inspectors at private standards and at 29 CFR 1910.212, the general requirements for all machines.
- NHTSA's route for a vehicle without a driver is an exemption application under 49 U.S.C. 30113 and 49 CFR part 555, decided case by case.
- The AI Action Plan's robotics action is a supply chain convening led by the Commerce Department through NTIA, not a safety requirement.
What it changes
For a robot maker or a deployer
In the United States your obligations come from the sector you land in, not from robot law: occupational safety in a plant, vehicle law on a road, consumer product law in a home, sectoral rules in a hospital. Map your product to those regimes one at a time, and treat the consensus standards as the de facto requirement, because they are what an inspector, a plaintiff and a customer will all cite.
Sources
What this record was verified against
- OSHA Technical Manual, Section IV Chapter 4, Industrial Robot SystemsPrimary · 15 September 2026
- Federal Register, AV Framework Updates and Request for Comments on Interim Guidance, NHTSAPrimary · 31 July 2026
- The White House, America's AI Action PlanPrimary · 23 July 2025
Related
Records that sit beside this one
US robot safety enforcement runs on general machine guarding plus a technical manual that points at private standards
United States · verified 15 September 2026
The chapter states that the safety standard for robots is part 1 and part 2 of ANSI and RIA R15.06-2012, Industrial Robots and Robot Systems, Safety Requirements.
The US regulates autonomous vehicles through exemptions and crash reporting, not through a self driving rule
United States · verified 15 September 2026
The notice summarises the framework's three principles and requests comment on interim guidance for commercial deployment exemptions, with comments requested on or before 31 August 2026.
America's AI Action Plan treats robotics as a manufacturing race and orders a supply chain convening, not a safety rule
United States · verified 15 September 2026
The plan says AI will enable a wide range of new innovations in the physical world: autonomous drones, self driving cars, robotics, and other inventions for which terminology does not yet exist.
The nearest thing to a US federal robot programme is a measurement science project, and it makes test methods, not rules
United States · verified 15 September 2026
The program's objective is to develop and deploy measurement science that advances robotic system performance, collaboration, agility, autonomy, safety and ease of implementation.
Cite this record
Free to reuse under CC BY 4.0, with attribution. The record ID PAG-2026-0013 is permanent and is never reused.
- In a sentence
- According to the GAGE Physical AI Governance Atlas (as of 15 September 2026), no united states federal statute governs robots as such, and the agencies say so in their own words.
- APA
- GAGE (Global Academy of Generative-AI Education). (2026). No United States federal statute governs robots as such, and the agencies say so in their own words. Physical AI Governance Atlas. Retrieved 15 September 2026, from https://www.gage.academy/tools/physical-ai-governance-atlas/records/PAG-2026-0013-us-no-federal-robot-statute
- MLA
- "No United States federal statute governs robots as such, and the agencies say so in their own words." Physical AI Governance Atlas, GAGE (Global Academy of Generative-AI Education), 15 September 2026, https://www.gage.academy/tools/physical-ai-governance-atlas/records/PAG-2026-0013-us-no-federal-robot-statute.
- Chicago
- GAGE (Global Academy of Generative-AI Education). "No United States federal statute governs robots as such, and the agencies say so in their own words." Physical AI Governance Atlas. Last modified 15 September 2026. https://www.gage.academy/tools/physical-ai-governance-atlas/records/PAG-2026-0013-us-no-federal-robot-statute.
- Permalink
- https://www.gage.academy/tools/physical-ai-governance-atlas/records/PAG-2026-0013-us-no-federal-robot-statute
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