As a hardware engineer, I’ve felt like an outsider for most of this AI revolution. Then OpenAI posted a job paying 3x the market rate for a mechanical engineer to develop haptic sensing for their robotics group. I was curious: what does this role entail and why does it pay so much?

Upon asking my smartest robotics friends, I went down this rabbit hole and:
- Caught up on the latest approaches in solving dextrous manipulation
- Reconciled the risks and opportunities in the chaotic humanoid robotics space
- Figured out how to “sell shovels” as a hardware engineer during this AI gold rush

As I compiled all this, I was finally able to put my nagging anxiety into words and propose a path forward:
We face a dilemma: specialize in cutting-edge robotics and risk vulnerability when markets shift, or stick to traditional work and miss the field's most exciting developments.
The video explores a third path: developing high-value, transferable skills through strategic side projects. Skills that matter whether humanoids boom or bust.
Link in comments. What path are you taking?"

Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:32 Generalist vs Specialist
1:01 Humanoids are Hot Right Now
1:21 Content Scop
1:38 Part II - What Makes Skills Valuable
2:09 Quick History of OpenAI Robotics
2:32 Current State of Humanoid Robots
3:28 Dextrous Manipulation Challenge
3:41 Origins of this Story
4:13 The Morphology Problem
4:47 UMI - Universal Manipulator Interface
5:25 DEXOP - Device for Robot Transfer
5:57 The Value Pattern
6:22 Build Shovels for the AI Gold Rush
7:00 The Humanoid Reality
7:21 The Core Dilemma for Hardware Engineers
7:44 Part III - Building Transferable Skills
8:24 Benefits of Side Projects
9:00 Evergreen Markets
9:24 Choosing the Right Project
10:06 Skills that Transcend Industries
11:19 Optimism vs Realism in Hardware
11:50 Now What?

My Website: https://www.leonexmachina.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leonexmachina/