Sunday Robotics has hired at least 10 former Tesla employees, underscoring intensifying competition for AI and robotics talent as startups race to build consumer-ready machines. The year-old firm, co-founded by Cheng Chi and Tony Zhao, unveiled “Memo,” a home robot that its founders say can perform long-horizon household tasks using a new foundation model dubbed ACT-1. LinkedIn profiles show recent hires include veterans from Tesla’s Autopilot and Optimus teams, including engineering leads in AI infrastructure, as the startup builds a roughly 50-person staff. Tesla, whose CEO Elon Musk has tied the company’s long-term value to progress in autonomous driving and its Optimus humanoid robot, did not comment. The moves come as rivals such as 1X push toward consumer launches, highlighting a broader migration of specialized robotics talent from Big Tech and automakers to venture-backed upstarts.
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