Robotic factories that build robots
Tensor is building a 12,000 sq ft robotic factory that manufactures robots, including humanoids and specialized grippers. The company, founded by Berkeley researchers with autonomous vehicle and manufacturing backgrounds, treats the entire factory as a learning system that improves manufacturing processes with each customer order.
Summary
Tensor is a robotics manufacturing company operating a full-scale 12,000 square foot factory that produces various types of robots, from humanoids to end-effectors to space station robots. The founding team consists of Berkeley graduate researchers who previously worked on autonomous vehicles racing at 160 mph and had experience in manufacturing, creating a natural transition into robotic factory automation.
During their time in the program, Tensor progressed from having minimal resources and prototypes in their apartment to operating a fully functional factory capable of manufacturing real industrial machinery and robots. Their core innovation is treating the entire factory as a learning system—each customer order that comes through the factory triggers self-experimentation and process improvement for future manufacturing cycles.
Currently, Tensor manufactures multiple robot types for customers. The primary product shown is the Azimov 1, a full humanoid robot comprising over 275 individual pieces including plastic casings, CNC-machined metal components, PCBs, electronics, and actuators. Additionally, they work with Berkeley AI research labs to make research prototypes mass-manufacturable, such as a smart suction gripper equipped with internal sensing that can detect grip quality and success autonomously.
Tensor positions itself as "the TSMC of robotics," where companies bring their robot designs to Tensor for scalable manufacturing and production automation.
Key Insights
- Tensor treats the entire factory as a learning data machine that self-experiments and improves manufacturing processes with each customer order that comes through
- The founding team transitioned naturally from racing autonomous cars at 160 mph to building robotic factories by combining their autonomous vehicle expertise with manufacturing experience
- Tensor's Azimov 1 humanoid robot consists of over 275 discrete pieces including plastic casings, CNC metal components, PCBs, electronics, and actuators that must be manufactured and assembled
- Tensor works with Berkeley AI research labs to convert single-unit research prototypes into mass-manufacturable products at commercial scale
- Tensor positions itself as the TSMC of robotics, accepting company designs and automating their full production pipeline
Topics
Transcript
[0:00] We're Tensor. We're building robotic factories that build robots. So, we have a full 12,000t factory right across the bridge and we're making full robots today from humanoids to endectors to even robots for International Space Station. >> Amazing. And how did you get into building robots? >> Yeah. So, our team is a bunch of Berkeley grad researchers. We used to take these full scale autonomous indie cars and race them autonomously at 160 mph. Bunch of the team used to be in manufacturing as well. So, just a natural transition. >> And tell me a little bit about what progress you made during the batch. Yeah. So, I mean, we went all the way from uh having…
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