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Ex-Tesla Optimus engineer settles trade secret lawsuit and raises $11M to build robot hands

Ex-Tesla Optimus lead Jay Li settled a trade secret lawsuit with Tesla and raised $11M to ship dexterous robot hands from his startup Proception.

Ex-Tesla Optimus engineer settles trade secret lawsuit and raises $11M to build robot hands

TL;DR

  • Proception, founded by former Tesla Optimus engineer Jay Li, settled a trade secret lawsuit with Tesla.
  • The company raised $11 million in seed funding led by First Round Capital.
  • Proception is now shipping its high-dexterity robotic hands to researchers and robotics companies.
  • Dexterous manipulation is identified as a significant unsolved problem in robotics.
  • Proception uses a sensor-laden glove for data collection, which also serves as the 'skin' for its robotic hand.
  • The market for dexterous robot hands has attracted significant capital from other companies globally.
  • Proception anticipates that most humanoid robot companies will purchase hands rather than develop them internally.