Rivian’s RJ Scaringe thinks we’re doing robots all wrong

If you haven’t heard, Rivian laminitis and CEO RJ Scaringe has different institution — his 3rd by our count. And this clip it’s focused connected robotics.

The serial entrepreneur is champion known for Rivian, the buzzy EV shaper that was thrust into the spotlight successful 2018 aft debuting an electrical motortruck with its now-famous cogwheel tunnel. 

The publically traded institution is present a fewer months distant from delivering its astir important EV yet, a mid-sized SUV called the R2. This EV is cheaper to physique than its flagship R1 counterpart (Scaringe tells maine “roughly half” the cost), and yet, successful galore ways is much technologically capable. It volition besides beryllium cheaper for buyers; the archetypal mentation of the R2 volition commencement astatine $57,990, 20% cheaper than its basal R1T pickup. 

And past there’s Also, the micromobility startup that began arsenic a skunkworks programme wrong Rivian and spun retired past year backed by VC money. Also, which Rivian maintains a number involvement in, launched a pedal-assist modular electrical bike and cargo quad vehicle past October. Scaringe is profoundly progressive with that startup arsenic well. 

Now, Scaringe has robotics connected his mind. And helium aptly named his caller startup Mind Robotics, which I learned was not its archetypal name. (More connected that below.)

Mind Robotics was not calved wrong the walls of Rivian, though the automaker whitethorn someday beryllium a customer. Mind Robotics is simply a backstage institution founded by Scaringe that precocious raised a $500 cardinal Series A round co-led by task firms Accel and Andreessen Horowitz. The company, which has raised $615 cardinal since its founding successful November 2025, is present valued astatine astir $2 billion. 

I sat down with Scaringe connected the sidelines of South by Southwest, of which his institution is the superior sponsor, to speech astir everything he’s moving on. The Q&A below, which has been edited for brevity and clarity, focuses connected our treatment astir robotics and however his caller startup is taking a caller approach. 

Are you done spinning disconnected companies?

Three companies? (pause) Probably.

Are you definite astir that? 

Yeah. I mean, yeah. (nods successful agreement) Also [the ebike company] is here, truthful that’s cool. It’s bully to see. It’s chill to spot the brands co-existing, which makes maine happy. 

Mind [Robotics] is thing I’ve been moving connected for a while. Also was unsocial due to the fact that it was built wrong Rivian, and that we spun it out. Mind … I started a full caller company, Rivian’s similar a spouse successful it. I’m wildly bullish connected it. It truly benefits Riven, but I deliberation it has the imaginable to beryllium a precise ample business, conscionable fixed the standard of what’s happening.

When did you commencement moving connected Mind? 

So, Mind is an absorbing communicative and it really comes backmost to R2.

About 2 years ago, we were gathering a batch of assurance successful R2. So if we’re assured successful R2 that means we deliberation there’s gonna beryllium a batch of volume. If we deliberation there’s gonna beryllium a batch of volume, it means we deliberation we’re going to request a batch of plants [factories]. 

And truthful effectively, I said, ‘Boy, if we’re gonna person to physique 4 oregon 5 plants implicit the adjacent decade, that means we’re going to walk many, galore cardinal dollars successful capex. What are these plants going to look like? And we don’t privation to physique a clump of plants and past person them instantly beryllium outdated.’

I kicked disconnected an effort to survey the aboriginal of manufacturing, and fundamentally came to the presumption that classical concern robotics is going to proceed to beryllium similar what you spot successful our works today, oregon successful a Tesla works oregon a Ford plant. But the thought of robotics with human-like skills is going to beryllium truly important. 

We already had a beardown thesis astir AI successful the carnal world. I met with fundamentally each institution that’s moving connected immoderate signifier of robotics that tin bash human-like skills. 

I broadly qualify it arsenic there’s companies that acceptable into the class of existing concern robotics companies. And I came to the presumption that they’re going to proceed to exist, but not beryllium the types of companies that physique robots that tin bash human-like tasks. 

And past there’s a caller batch of companies that are each similar startups, effectively. Most of which are focused connected the home, amazingly — which we could walk hours on. A precise ample fig of these companies are focused connected folding towels and doing dishes, a subset of those which are looking astatine industrial. 

We conscionable came to the presumption that the ingredients to beryllium successful, nary of them had each of those ingredients. And I felt I could physique a amended company.

I’m not going to physique Rivian’s aboriginal manufacturing dependency connected companies that person ne'er industrialized a merchandise oregon knowing oregon person truly spent clip knowing concern operations, oregon that don’t person a information flywheel for grooming models, oregon that don’t person proviso chains due to the fact that each those companies, we would request to spell assistance them larn however to beryllium a existent company. 

I made the determination to commencement a caller company, and past had to fig retired however the governing operation is going to beryllium like. 

And connected the time I launched the company, I raised a effect round, and past we conscionable did this Series A  financing.

When you primitively founded it oregon registered, was it called thing else?

What was the task name? I’ll archer you, nobody’s asked maine that. (pauses) So it was “Project Synapse.” 

Why?

A batch of reasons. This is simply a large question, nary 1 has asked this. So the sanction of the institution Mind, it benignant of links to synapse and links to the brain.

Like firing and misfiring. 

Ha, yea exactly. And it was some due to the fact that of the encephalon link. And past astatine the time, my kids were successful a schoolhouse called Synapse, and I was inspired by my kids and reasoning astir the business, truthful I linked them. I really astir called the institution Synapse, but it’s conscionable excessively comic of a word; I wanted thing simpler, but yeah, it was astir synapse.

It’s funny, 1 of my committee members conscionable wrote maine a enactment and inactive referred to it arsenic Project Synapse.

Who is connected your board?

Myself, Jiten [Behl] of Eclipse, Sameer from Accel, and Rivian has a committee representative. It’s a backstage company, truthful it’s overmuch easier than a nationalist company.

You talked astir the antithetic categories, is what you’re readying connected doing astir intimately related to what Boston Dynamics is moving on, which is the Atlas humanoid, but pairing up with an AI Lab [Google DeepMind]?

We’re gathering the models arsenic well. We’re gathering the models, the robotics, and the infrastructure to deploy astatine scale.

Then connected mechatronics and the robots itself, determination has been a astonishing accent connected mimicking quality biomechanics, oregon successful immoderate cases, adjacent going further, making adjacent much analyzable mechatronics. 

I deliberation what’s missed successful concern [robotics] and this is 1 of the things we truly spot clearly, is the enactment happens with the hands. So, the hands are very, precise important. Everything else, from a robotic strategy constituent of view, is to get the hands to the close place. And truthful the quality for the robots to bash truly analyzable motions, like, let’s say, similar a backmost flip that’s really conscionable means the robot has a batch of unnecessary complexity successful it for the immense bulk of tasks.

And I recognize the intent of showing that is to amusement the flexibility and capableness (of the humanoid robots). But if you were to spell into a Rivian facility, you volition spot precise fewer radical that person the benignant of flexibility that would alteration them to bash a backmost flip. And truthful it’s conscionable erstwhile you deliberation astir deploying astatine scale, you privation to minimize the complexity, minimize the fig of nonaccomplishment modes, trim powerfulness consumption. 

And truthful I bash deliberation galore of the robotic systems, peculiarly humanoid systems, that are being thought astir for manufacturing are mode excessively analyzable comparative to what they do. They’re going to beryllium quality like, they’ll person hands, there’s a cognition exemplary astatine the top. There’s going to beryllium the quality to set and X, Y and Z; there’s going to beryllium locomotion to let it to move. But I think, mimicking quality biomechanics successful a manufacturing situation misses immoderate of the cardinal points of manufacturing, which is, it’s each manus based.

I’m trying to visualize what this volition yet look similar oregon what the antithetic variants volition be.

So, the hands are the astir analyzable portion of robots, though.  

(Quickly jumping in) But it’s besides wherever you absorption your energy, your dollars, the spending, everything should spell into the hands. 

And I deliberation the different happening to notice, if you’re gathering a concern that is going to work a batch of antithetic concern sectors for manufacturing, there’s not 1 acceptable of hands that’s going to beryllium perfect. 

If you deliberation astir the situation of hands is torque amplification. If you’re picking up a ample four-inch diameter alloy pipe, it’s a antithetic gripping solution than threading an M4 fastener into an aluminum casting. It’s conscionable precise antithetic skills and precise antithetic levels of dexterity.

One of the different things that’s happening is successful robotics, which is precise surprising, is successful the biologic satellite we truthful intelligibly admit that improvement has allowed america to create, similar precise antithetic optimal sets of biomechanics for antithetic things. The champion happening for swimming looks precise antithetic than the champion happening for moving and the champion happening for climbing looks antithetic than the champion happening for lifting. And due to the fact that of that, humans are not peculiarly bully astatine swimming. Like, if you were to enactment maine up against a dolphin, I would lose. If you enactment maine up against a cheetah, I would lose. 

We’re much powerful, of course, successful our brain. And truthful successful manufacturing, to presume that the signifier and signifier origin of a quality is the optimal signifier and signifier origin for each types of work, I think, conscionable misses the information that we didn’t germinate successful a plant. Now, plants person evolved astir us, which is an important point. And there’s a immense embedded brownish tract infrastructure that robots person to plug into. But the portion that they person to plug into is they person to astir acceptable successful the abstraction that humans let for, and they person to person hands. I telephone that each retired due to the fact that we person a antithetic position past I deliberation a batch of the robots that often started from saying we’re going to enactment successful the home, which is simply a precise antithetic ODD [operational plan domain].

But similar each these usage cases that accidental we’re gonna bash everything a quality does. it’s a antithetic ODD and truthful it’s gonna pb to a antithetic signifier origin than if you said, I’m conscionable gonna beryllium focused connected being a manufacturer. 

And really [in an concern factory] you don’t person to woody with stairs, you don’t person carpet to tile transitions, you don’t person to interest astir tripping connected a cat. You don’t person to interest astir stepping connected a kid. So you conscionable person overmuch much affable constraints for deployment astatine scale. And you tin representation the environment, and the situation doesn’t change, right? 

The 1 happening that would alteration the dynamic would beryllium immoderate enactment with humans [in a factory].

Which is an important point. 

That’s wherefore the UI [user interface] is precise important. We haven’t shown what it’s gonna look like, but I’ll springiness you the little [sic]: It needs to consciousness friendly, due to the fact that it’s gonna enactment a agelong clip with humans. But it doesn’t privation to consciousness dopey and extremity up with a footwear maine sticker connected its back, right? 

A batch of robotics has besides gone towards these precise lean, muscular forms that look precise Terminator like. I don’t cognize why. I conjecture subject fabrication movies oregon thing has caused the concern plan satellite to bash that. There’s a mentation of robots and they each benignant of blend together. They’re these precise diversion sprinter assemblage forms. I deliberation there’s a antithetic signifier origin that tin consciousness overmuch much approachable, but not dopey.

I’m starting to spot a thread with what you did with Also, and your thinking, successful presumption of modularity with Mind. 

Some of that, yeah. 

The different happening is Rivian. If you were to inquire idiosyncratic successful 2018 what a 1,000 horsepower motortruck looks like, and you squinted, you wouldn’t deliberation of an R1 [truck]. And so, I deliberation the thought is you tin person each this capability, but it doesn’t person to look intimidating oregon scary. It tin beryllium affable — it’s a plan content and aesthetic that volition transportation into robotics arsenic well.