Apple Robotics Researcher Joins Tesla Optimus, Citing ‘Scale and Sophistication’

While recent headlines have focused on a "brain drain" of Tesla talent to early-stage startups like Sunday Robotics, the EV giant has secured a high-profile arrival from one of its biggest rivals.

Yilun Chen, previously a Research Scientist on the Apple Robotics Research Team, has joined Tesla as a Staff Robotics Engineer. The move, announced in a post on X that has garnered over 2.2 million views, offers a rare glimpse into the competitive recruiting landscape for embodied AI—and suggests that Tesla's "hardcore" culture remains a significant draw for senior engineers.

A 'Hardcore' Draw

Chen’s move comes after nearly four years at Apple, where he worked on machine learning and robotics initiatives that remain largely under wraps. In his announcement, Chen cited the sheer magnitude of Tesla’s operations as a deciding factor.

"Tesla has the right combination of software, hardware and AI talents to make it happen," Chen wrote. "I was totally blown away by the scale and sophistication of the Optimus lab and deep dedication of people when I got to visit the office."

His description of the work environment portrays a culture focused on speed and iteration, mirroring the "early days" energy that departing engineers recently cited as their reason for leaving to join startups.

"My first week was already so much fun and exciting: flat team structure, spontaneous deep technical discussions, direct communications across levels, hardcore building and crazy ideas with super fast iterations," Chen noted.

This incoming talent validates Tesla's aggressive push toward mass production. While the company is currently operating a prototype R&D line, it is simultaneously preparing a massive facility in Texas intended for high-volume manufacturing.

From Apple to Optimus

Chen’s background places him at the intersection of computer vision and autonomous planning. Before his tenure at Apple, he served as a Machine Learning Engineer at Lyft’s Level 5 division (later acquired by Toyota) and at Uber’s Advanced Technologies Group (ATG).

His resume highlights a focus on behavior planning and actor prediction—skills that are directly transferable to the unified "world simulator" strategy championed by Tesla’s AI leadership.

Interestingly, Chen hinted at the secretive nature of his work at Apple, noting that "many of them are not public yet (wait for the surprise!)."

The 'Embodied AI' Community

Beyond his engineering role, Chen has established himself as a voice in the robotics research community. He maintains a curated feed, "Embodied AI Reading Notes" (@EmbodiedAIRead), where he summarizes complex academic papers for a broad audience of researchers and students.

The account, which he emphasizes is written "without AI assistance," has grown rapidly, reflecting the surging interest in "Physical AI"—the application of large language models (LLMs) to robotic hardware.

Humanoids are the ultimate dream of our generation,

Chen stated in his hiring announcement. "With the recent breakthrough of LLMs and Physical AI, this dream is finally within reach."

Chen’s arrival signals that despite the allure of seed-stage equity at new startups, Tesla’s resource-rich environment and massive compute infrastructure continue to attract veterans hoping to solve general-purpose robotics at scale.