In what seems like another setback for Elon Musk and his ambitions for robotics, Tesla has filed a lawsuit against one of their ex-employees on allegations of stealing confidential information regarding the Optimus robot. Tesla, which focuses on electric vehicles and advanced robotics, has accused the previous engineer of stealing company secrets to start his own firm specialising in robotics.
The former engineer, identified as Zhongjie ‘Jay’ Li, worked with Tesla on the Optimus project from August 2022 to September 2024. Li eventually left the company and established his own robotics startup within a week, named Proception, says the Tesla lawsuit. The startup was able to come up with a ‘successfully built’ robotic hand in five months, flaunting a design highly similar to the Optimus project.
Ex-Tesla engineer accused of stealing Optimus’ arm
The lawsuit, which was filed on Friday, June 13, 2025, alleges that Li downloaded sensitive data before leaving the company to establish his own rival startup, says the Bloomberg report. Li is accused of transferring crucial Optimus project data, including details concerning the development of advanced robotic hand sensors, onto his personal smartphones. Tesla claims he then leveraged this proprietary information to create his new venture that competed with the Elon Musk-led robotics firm.
While accessing confidential files, the lawsuit also claims that Li used Tesla’s internal resources to conduct personal research on humanoid robotic hand design and explored topics related to startup funding as well as venture capital. Tesla says that these research topics suggest a pre-planned decision to leave Tesla and use its resources to create a new startup.
Tesla asserts that Li’s alleged actions constitute the misappropriation of vital trade secrets, threatening to undermine years of intensive research and development invested in the Optimus initiative. The company considers the progress in robotic hand technology as critical for Optimus’s functionality and to secure Tesla’s competitive advantage in the rapidly emerging humanoid robot market.
While the lawsuit is yet to determine the outcome, work continues on the Optimus humanoid robot. In the recent past, Tesla has taken all opportunities to share the progress and development on the robot. The robot can walk and talk but still requires human remote control to make it all happen.