Tesla is struggling to mass-produce its Optimus humanoid robot, confronting both technical obstacles and employee pushback. The primary bottleneck lies in the robot's hands—intricate mechanical components that demand precise movements and require manual assembly of over 100 small parts per unit.
Beyond engineering challenges, Tesla has asked employees to wear specialized motion-capture suits to record their movements for training Optimus's AI. Some workers have resisted, arguing they're essentially training machines designed to replace them. The company currently manufactures hundreds of Optimus robots weekly and aims to scale production to 1,000 units by year's end.