Tesla workers balk at training robot replacements
The Information reported that Tesla shifted robot-training duties to dedicated teams after factory workers objected to recording their movements to teach Optimus humanoid robots.
Tesla has shifted the job of training its Optimus humanoid robots to dedicated internal teams, The Information reported. Factory workers in Texas and California had objected to wearing motion-capture suits to teach the robots designed to replace them. Ars Technica reported the account, citing The Information.
Workers told The Information they knew the robots were "designed to eventually replace them." Tesla has since set up dedicated "training hubs" for the imitation-learning data collection instead of relying on line workers, according to the reporting.
The pushback comes as Tesla tries to scale Optimus V3 production, The Information reported. Output is currently in the hundreds of robots a week, with a target of more than 1,000 a week by the end of 2026. Sources described production-line equipment struggling to precisely align components at higher speeds. Robot hands, which have more than 100 small parts each, require largely manual assembly, the sources said.
One source described Optimus as still requiring task-specific programming for controlled environments rather than the general-purpose capability Tesla has promised. Chief executive Elon Musk has called Optimus potentially "the biggest product ever." He has also acknowledged that building an autonomous humanoid robot is "one of the hardest things to solve."