Author: Yu Hang He, Email: hey6@unlv.nevada.edu
Date Last Modified: 08/12/2019

This week, I had the opportunity to tour most of the Tesla Gigafactory's production line. Unfortunately, I could not take photos of the actual assembly line. The photo above depicts the model of the factory they had set up in the lobby area. Of course, the actual production lines are nothing like the model they showed. For a mechanical engineering student's perspective, there were an impressive amount of automation and robotics that was implemented in the production process. Many parts of the production line was automated with sensors, vacuum grippers, and robotic manipulators. However, there are still many areas that requires manual labor. I also witness the area where Tesla over-automated the production and it was actually less efficient than human labor. Overall, it was a very interesting experience to observe the application of automation in industrial setting.

I have the opportunity to finally meet Matt Jezyk, the senir BIM software engineer and the manager for this robotic construction project. During Monday evening, the BIM team invited me to their team dinner and I had the opportunity to know the team members better. During the travel to the dinner, I had the opportunity to ride on a Tesla Model X with Matt in the driver seat. We discussed various aspects of this project, including potential use case of Spot in the construction and in Tesla's factory.

New opportunities and new environments always present themselves with stimulation. Without properly preparing yourself, these stimulation can be overwhelming. However, at the same time, they will present individual with the chance to learn more about themselves and overcome these obstacles. I found myself in the midst of this process and I am excited to see the outcome.

I appeared at Tesla rather abruptly on Wednesday morning. It seems that Tesla was somewhat unorganized with preparing for my arrival. After some hiccups, I finally received my work laptop and gain access to their network. The first task I received was to become familiar with Tesla's laser scanner. I learned by myself the hardware setup of the laser scanner, taken a test scan, and visualize it within AutoDesk Recap.

Afterward, I familiarize myself with Python and start learning Boston Dynamic's API.

I current and immediate future agenda is to study Boston Dynamic's API for Spot Mini in preparation for the training in Boston. Fortunately, Bosdyn left detailed comments in their APIs and I have no trouble navigating them.