Doug Field, the engineer who ran Tesla’s Model 3 program and later Ford’s entire EV operation, is now president of Mind Robotics, the industrial robotics startup Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe spun out of Rivian last year.
He lands at a company that has now raised more than $1 billion in under a year, and he’ll run product, engineering, and operations alongside Scaringe.
more…Tesla is now building several hundred Optimus humanoid robots per week at Fremont, roughly 10 times its Q2 output, according to a new report. But the robots coming off the line still can’t handle generalized tasks – limiting their usefulness.
The report also describes fragile hands, misaligned parts on the assembly line, and suppliers that can’t hold quality at volume. Those are the two problems that decide whether humanoid robots make money: generalization and reliability.
more…A scientist who worked on Tesla’s Optimus humanoid robot is now building a rival of his own — in Europe, not Silicon Valley.
Rémi Cadène, co-founder and CEO of Paris-based startup UMA, unveiled plans for a lightweight humanoid robot called Northstar and says the company is already talking to 50 potential customers.
Drew Baglino spent nearly two decades building Tesla’s batteries, motors, and power electronics. Now the former Tesla SVP is quietly building the one home energy product Tesla talked up for years and never shipped: a residential heat pump.
His startup, Sadi Thermal Machines, is a direct bet on an idea Tesla floated openly in 2022 — before the company reoriented itself around humanoid robots and robotaxis.
Login