Li, who was a technical lead on Tesla's Optimus humanoid robot program, was accused by his former employer last year of absconding with trade secrets to start Proception. But after months of trading legal blows, he finally reached a settlement with Tesla, which dismissed the lawsuit earlier this month. (Tesla did not respond to a request for comment.) Proception also announced Monday that it is shipping the first batch of its 'high-dexterity robotic hand' to 'researchers and robotics companies,' while opening up to wider orders. The goal, Li said, is to become the top hand supplier to other companies that don't want to spend the time or resources developing what's known in the industry as 'dexterous manipulation.' While Musk has maintained that Optimus robots could start working in factories in a matter of years, the consensus view is that making robotic hands equivalent to a human's is still many years away. Kevin Lynch, the director of Northwestern University's Center for Robotics...
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