Tesla’s Optimus robot push hits hand assembly and worker training issues

In short: Tesla’s plan to scale up its Optimus humanoid robots is running into manufacturing problems and employee pushback, according to reporting cited by Ars Technica.

What's going on

Tesla has been shifting attention from cars to its Optimus humanoid robot, a robot shaped like a person. Ars Technica reports that Tesla’s Fremont factory in California stopped making the Model S and Model X in May 2026, and moved workers and engineers to Optimus work.

The newest version, Optimus V3, has been hard to build at higher volumes. The report describes trouble getting factory equipment to line up parts precisely, and limits on how fast the production line can run. Tesla is reportedly producing hundreds of robots per week, and aims to exceed 1,000 per week by the end of 2026.

A major sticking point is the robot’s hands. The hands and forearms reportedly have more than 100 small parts, including screws, and workers often have to assemble them by hand. That manual process can lead to robots that need fixes right away. Touch sensors in the hands have also been unreliable, so Tesla reportedly developed a replaceable, glove-like sensor layer.

Teaching the robots is also difficult. The report says Tesla had some factory workers wear motion-capture suits to record movements for “imitation learning” (learning by copying, like an apprentice watching a skilled worker). Some workers complained because they believed they were helping train robots meant to replace them. Tesla has reportedly shifted this work to dedicated teams and set up “training hubs.”

What to watch

Watch whether Tesla can hit its production target while improving reliability, and whether worker concerns change how the company collects training data. Another open question is supply. The report notes Tesla still relies on Chinese suppliers for some robot parts, even as US rules on foreign-made robots have tightened.

Source: Arstechnica