Dustin Walper

Okay, so this is freaking awesome. Huge breakthrough.

This is what our autonomous shipbuilding process looks like for placing, fitting, tacking, and welding.

This is *one click* based on a 3D model. Our software does the rest:

* Find the correct part, pick, and place it to within ~1/32" of nominal, making complete contact with another part. No fixtures.
* Correct any sweep & bow in the metal to within 1/16" dimensional tolerances and tack it in place.
* Complete the full weld sequence, in this case a double continuous 3/16" fillet using metal cored wire.
* (Not shown) In-process laser scan of the weld for QC.

I've sped it up, but actual elapsed time for this operation is ~5:35. And it will get faster.

If we want to go fast, we need to think about cycle time across *the entire process*. Not just welding.

The steps we can do robotically take multiple people working much longer to complete in a shipyard - we're expecting to reduce cycle times by anywhere from 10-16x in realistic conditions.

I sincerely hope they don’t follow through on this.

Aside from being huge employers in Texas, Tesla and SpaceX were the accelerant that made Austin the incredibly vibrant tech ecosystem that it is, with a fast-growing share of U.S. VC investment.

Anything that harms Tesla/SpaceX will harm the rest of us trying to make Texas the best place in the world to build moonshots.

This is what I tell my team:

Use AI to do research/structure a plan, then start from scratch and write it in your own words.

Especially important for pitch decks, social media, customer comms, etc.

It's an amazing product.

But being willing to take risks means you won't nail it out of the park 100% of the time.

Apple is the world's most valuable company, but Vision Pro was a commercial flop despite being a groundbreaking product.

It happens.

Good ol' WSJ comments re: Cybertruck discontinuation.

It's an absolute joy to drive and I love the design.

Irrational hatred from malcontents is just the icing on the cake.