Electronic Design Weekly: June 8-12, 2026
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Editorial: The Attraction in Biomimetic Robots?
Tesla ended production of its Model S and Model X sedans at its Fremont factory a couple of weeks ago, without much fanfare from the press, to “make room” for the production of their “Optimus” humanoid robot (the cool kids now call this “Physical AI,” because “killbot” keeps the children woke during their parents' Jimmy Fallon quiet time). It seems curious that Tesla would cut off a four-wheeled car’s factory production for a two-legged biomimetic contrivance, a move that has been niggling tinfoil-haberdashed moi for weeks beyond the cover stories.
Production of the premium-market Model S and X was a modest 54,900 units in 2025, which was still reasonable, in my mind, for the balance sheet given the first Model S rolled off that assembly line back in 2012. It’s right up there with competitor production numbers. So why shut them down?
My theory is magnets. To support production of millions of humanoid robots per year, powerful magnets are needed for the motors in every movable joint for its outrunner motors. I bought a big one of those outrunner motors on eBay a few months ago for my DARPA drone project. It was in a listing put up by Boston Dynamics, designers and builders of the biomimetic robot dog, “Spot,” and of the Atlas humanoid robot.
Continue reading this editorial.
Quick Poll: Robot & Magnet Pole[sic]
Featured Series: Applying Edge AI to DC Arc Fault Detection
This past week marked the last entry in the Arc Fault series by contributing author Adithya Thonse, an Applications-Specific MCUs Systems Engineer at Texas Instruments.
Arc faults are potentially hazardous conditions when conductive paths open to create sparks and plasma. At times, they mimic a continuous connection while creating a potential ignition hazard or damaging the system.
Because they can emulate an intact conductor in systems such as solar power systems and electric vehicles, detection is difficult. This is where an adaptive signature analysis capability by AI brings in AI's strengths to the problem. This series of articles presents the whys and hows of arc fault detection implementation, including how to use the AI toolchain flow.
enjoy,
-andyT
More on Biomimetic Robots...
Check out some of our past articles on Biomimetic Robots.
Editor's Choice: From the ElectronicDesign Archives
These articles were chosen by the editors at ElectronicDesign that complement the new articles above. They are included in our regular newsletters.
Cabe's Picks of the Week
- What do we humans do? We make stuff. Some companies resist adopting robotics to make stuff faster. Find out why @MachineDesign
- Remember Mister Roger’s crayon factory tour? Mouser gives it a shot with their “A Look Inside the Technology and Logistics of our Global Distribution Center” @Power&Motion
- Now get ready for the greatest experience you’ll have today… Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood – How People Make Crayons. I saw they posted the whole episode on YouTube just 4 DAYS AGO! But, I queued up the video to the visit. Enjoy.
Did you know that Fred Rogers (Mister Rogers) was red-green color blind? Yes, red and green colors looked like shades of gray to him. He never really saw his iconic red sweater, which I didn’t realize until a few minutes before writing this. I suspect that is why, in the crayon factory visit episode above, he spent so much time coloring in yellow, and the factory showed the production of yellow crayons.
I've gotten a lot of fun revisiting all the episodes with my son over the years. That show was something special and truly timeless.
Andy's Picks From Around the Web
Humanoid robots 'the future' of car making, says BMW. Link
6 Humanoids You Can Actually Buy in 2026! Video
Exposing The Solid State Donut Battery. It's Over. Video
Trump administration to sink key ocean monitoring system. Video
F-bombing Youtuber show alleged evidence that publishing billionaire Michael Bloomberg has spent $50M in his multi-state lobbyist effort to gain control over what can be CNC'd or 3D printed. [This clearly isn't just about gun parts or he'd also be shutting down Home Depot, Lowes, Ace, Menards, Harbor Freight, Grizzly, Northern Tool, etc.]. Video
Click here to see Andy's full list of the latest articles and news.
Inside the 3D Printer Ban Buried in the New York Budget. Video
On June 7, 2026, President Claudia Sheinbaum unveiled, Olinia 1, Mexico’s first domestically developed electric vehicle. Link
You Can Now Get a Religious Exemption From Using AI at Work. Link
NASA’s X-59 Aircraft Flies Supersonic for First Time. Link
[You can't make this stuff up:] CEO to staff: You're not getting a raise. We're spending on AI instead. Link
Trump administration to sink key ocean monitoring system. Video
[Being announced a week before the SpaceX IPO] Google To Pay SpaceX $920 Million Per Month For Massive AI Compute Power. Link
[two parts: Part 2, Big AI's societal "concern" over an allegedly real threat of AI assisting WMD creation] Link
[part 1, posted here in April, Big AI: we're not liable for aiding and abetting WMD creation] Link
There's a cute 'mechanic's special' Corbin Sparrow EV up for bid - they're rare and interesting enough to bring to our readers' attention. Link
Smart Glasses Would Legally Require a Recording Light Under Proposed Law. Link
Farmer donates land for a park, city sells it for data center development. Link
Whose Inner 10-year-old Doesn't Want This? Unitree Unveils: GD01, A Manned Transformable Mecha. Video
South Korea’s artificial Sun ("KSTAR") ran for 102 seconds and it could change the future of energy. Link
Happy Birthday, Intel 8086: World's first x86 processor debuted 48 years ago. Link
I had a LOT of problems with getting the illustration the way I envisioned it for this week's comic when using Gemini. It was hellbent on altering my cast of characters to create a politically correct version of a toon I've been running on EDW for a couple of months.
Its failure to follow directions and its injection of social agendas and outright lies (a future blog), motivated me to fire Gemini and try out OpenAI. ChatGPT seemed reasonable, though the effort wasn't falling off a log - took 4 hours to get it to look right. Yup...4 hours of fighting stubbonness (about half was mine) and bias.
To give it credit, 'GPT wasn't trying to do this to my characters, and then tripling (and a half - look closely) down on the next iteration, including the innocent little dino, lol, like Gemini, here, was doing before it got fired:
Auduino Proposal Ring!
Does my concept drawing show possibility? Can it be done?
(Coincidentally, this took me about 4 hours to draw this. Hardest part? Drawing hands, of course.)
It's another project I plan to do but don’t have the time RIGHT NOW, like my cat’s Meowplifier.
See the story behind this one on its page — or see rest of my cartoons in the Engineering on Friday comic gallery.
About the Author
William G. Wong
Senior Content Director - Electronic Design and Microwaves & RF
I am Editor of Electronic Design focusing on embedded, software, and systems. As Senior Content Director, I also manage Microwaves & RF and I work with a great team of editors to provide engineers, programmers, developers and technical managers with interesting and useful articles and videos on a regular basis. Check out our free newsletters to see the latest content.
You can send press releases for new products for possible coverage on the website. I am also interested in receiving contributed articles for publishing on our website. Use our template and send to me along with a signed release form.
Check out my blog, AltEmbedded on Electronic Design, as well as his latest articles on this site that are listed below.
You can visit my social media via these links:
- AltEmbedded on Electronic Design
- Bill Wong on Facebook
- @AltEmbedded on Twitter
- Bill Wong on LinkedIn
I earned a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Masters in Computer Science from Rutgers University. I still do a bit of programming using everything from C and C++ to Rust and Ada/SPARK. I do a bit of PHP programming for Drupal websites. I have posted a few Drupal modules.
I still get a hand on software and electronic hardware. Some of this can be found on our Kit Close-Up video series. You can also see me on many of our TechXchange Talk videos. I am interested in a range of projects from robotics to artificial intelligence.
Roger Engelke Jr.
Managing Editor - Electronic Design and Microwaves & RF
Roger manages the websites and print issues for Electronic Design and Microwaves &RF.
Cabe Atwell
Technology Editor, Electronic Design
Cabe is a Technology Editor for Electronic Design.
Engineer, Machinist, Cartoonist, Maker, Writer. A graduate Electrical Engineer actively plying his expertise in the industry and at his company, Gunhead. When not designing/building, he creates a steady torrent of projects and content in the media world. Many of his projects and articles are online at element14 & SolidSmack, industry-focused work at EETimes & EDN, and offbeat articles at Make Magazine. Currently, you can find him hosting webinars and contributing to Electronic Design and Machine Design.
Cabe is an electrical engineer, design consultant and author with 25 years’ experience. His most recent book is “Essential 555 IC: Design, Configure, and Create Clever Circuits”
Cabe writes the Engineering on Friday blog on Electronic Design.
See Cabe's cartoons & comic strips here.
James Morra
Senior Editor
James Morra is the senior editor for Electronic Design, covering the semiconductor industry and new technology trends, with a focus on power electronics and power management. He also reports on the business behind electrical engineering, including the electronics supply chain. He joined Electronic Design in 2015 and is based in Chicago, Illinois.
Andy Turudic
Technology Editor, Electronic Design
Andy Turudic is a Technology Editor for Electronic Design Magazine, primarily covering Analog and Mixed-Signal circuits and devices and also is Editor of ED's bi-weekly Automotive Electronics newsletter.
He holds a Bachelor's in EE from the University of Windsor (Ontario Canada) and has been involved in electronics, semiconductors, and gearhead stuff, for a bit over a half century. Andy also enjoys teaching his engineerlings at Portland Community College as a part-time professor in their EET program.
"AndyT" brings his multidisciplinary engineering experience from companies that include National Semiconductor (now Texas Instruments), Altera (Intel), Agere, Zarlink, TriQuint,(now Qorvo), SW Bell (managing a research team at Bellcore, Bell Labs and Rockwell Science Center), Bell-Northern Research, and Northern Telecom.
After hours, when he's not working on the latest invention to add to his portfolio of 16 issued US patents, or on his DARPA Challenge drone entry, he's lending advice and experience to the electric vehicle conversion community from his mountain lair in the Pacific Northwet[sic].
AndyT's engineering blog, "Nonlinearities," publishes the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of each month. Andy's OpEd may appear at other times, with fair warning given by the Vu meter pic. His cartoon series, "Inventors", appears each week in Electronic Design Weekly.
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