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It’s Friday!
Hello, Curse and Coffee friends,
Today, we talk robots.
Hit reply and let us know what you think (we read all of your kind words).
Coffee at the ready…
The Big Sip
The take: Two humanoid robots want your factory floor — one has a purchase order, the other has a paper towel trick.
What happened: Boston Dynamics shipped the production Atlas at CES 2026. It locked in its entire year's output for Hyundai and Google DeepMind.
Why it matters: Tesla admitted on its Q4 2025 earnings call that zero Optimus units are doing "useful work" anywhere, while its rival already has paying customers.
What to watch: Hyundai's Robotics Metaplant Application Centre opens in Georgia this year to test Atlas before live factory deployment in 2028.
Tesla is killing the Model S to make room for a robot that catches tossed objects on camera. Atlas swaps its own batteries and clocks back in.
Analyst receipt
[Analysis] Motley Fool, 24 Feb 2026
Background: Tesla earmarked $20 billion in capital spending this year — more than double last year. It's also converting Fremont from car production to robot manufacturing. Musk targets one million Optimus units per year long-term.
Key quote: Musk "tempered expectations by telling investors that even with Optimus' advances, the humanoid remains in a research and development phase."
Strategic read: Every quarter, Atlas logs real factory hours and Optimus doesn't, the gap between Tesla's stock pitch and Boston Dynamics' shipping schedule gets harder to explain with a keynote.
Sponsor Break
Before we slurp into today’s brew…
Here are some wordies from today’s sponsor.
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