Tesla’s Optimus Robot Production Faces Assembly Hurdles

The Information reported that the production strategy is creating snags, including issues lining up parts precisely. It said the Optimus production lines are new, and the robot’s parts are much smaller and must fit together far more precisely than car parts. “Not only are the Optimus production lines new, but the Optimus parts are much smaller and have to fit together far more precisely than car parts,” The Information noted.

Even in the “V3” Optimus robots Tesla is currently producing, the hands and forearms “have more than 100 screws and other small components that currently require a worker to assemble manually,” according to The Information. The robots are lighter and have more cameras than previous versions, but they lack a “sensing glove” currently in development. That glove is intended to improve durability by making it easier to replace touch sensors without swapping out the entire hand.

Optimus has faced delays for years. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has made bold promises about the robot, saying Optimus will be Tesla’s “biggest product of all time.” At the moment, however, the robots are still being used internally for specific tasks in limited areas, and not generally or with remote teleoperation.

Tesla also reportedly plans to lease the robots initially rather than selling them, and to use the training data collected to improve the robots. The company will have to get them out in the world first. Meanwhile, other developers have begun shifting to less lifelike designs for their robots. Earlier this month, Chinese regulators reportedly started holding back IPO listings for humanoid robotics companies.