Bill helps robot makers use government patents and set rules.
S. 5310 — Robotics Supply Chain Improvement Act · Filed by Mike Rounds (R-SD) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced Aug 6, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
The bill tells NIST to work with robot makers. It helps them remove barriers and create standards. The Department of Commerce must report each year on robot use. NASA must give its robot patents to private companies. The bill also sets up worker training with robot makers.
Who it affects
Robot makers and tech companies get government patents. Workers may get training through company programs. The public pays for the patents but gets no money back.
One thing to notice
NASA patents made with tax money go to private robot companies with no rule to share profits. NIST sets standards by working with robot makers, which may put company interests into public rules.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
1 cosponsor: 1 Democrats.
- Aug 6, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Aug 6, 2026 — Referred to Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- patents — Legal rights that let one person own an invention for a set time.
- standards — Rules that companies agree to follow so products work well together.
- NIST — A government agency that sets technical rules and helps with science.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (4,797 characters) on Aug 20, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,707 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-09-23.
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