Zach Klein's Blog

diy:

Some of the DIY team toured the Tesla Motors factory, situated about 30 miles from our studio. Tesla designs and manufactures electric cars.

The factory is an astonishing sight! The first thing that strikes you is the scale of the building. Encompassing 5,500,000 sqft it has twice the capacity as the Empire State Building. Plus, every surface seems to be painted with white epoxy paint and it glistens.

My favorite sight was seen from a catwalk above the assembly line, as the car bodies below automatically advanced while gigantic robot arms fastened new components to them. The robot arms were graceful, though moving unpredictably as though they were alive. Their coordination was surreal and at times it appeared as though they were dancing. The neatest thing about the robots is that have tools that they can attach and detach from their arms without human assistance. So, in one procedure they may need an extension to pick up a part, and when the part is in place the robot might swiftly change into a riveting tool.

Wow.

Thank you to Alan for the tour. We’re grateful for the experience, and excited by the progress your company is making!

- Zach