The hive mind is converging on the idea of rapid iteration in the physical space. This is necessary not just for human-directed improvement but also unlocking AI-directed improvement. Convert your problems to software problems, then let AI write the software to solve them.

We're not going to keep pace with China's actuator development by doing process engineering with humans. China isn't going to reach actuators with precision that can perform surgery on cells with their current playbook of doing process engineering with humans. I believe everyone will move towards automated design and process improvement - the question is just how. Let me give you a real world example of how this works first I can design our Caldera-0-3115 motors to have an airgap of 0.08mm airgap instead of 0.16mm airgap but I can't manufacture it. If i could, this would translate to about 8% max torque at 2.5kW max throttle - which Counter UAS folks would absolutely love. This is more impactful than any design improvement I can make from optimizing EM design with Ansys and maaaybe set a new world record. But I just can't manufacture it - even if I did, it would die within x hours of flight time because at some point the stator and magnets would start colliding. Because my current manufacturing process creates error tolerance stackup from 1. flipping/refixturing of the multi-step lathing process of the rotor bell not perfectly coaxial 2. press fits 3. adhesives 4. tolerancing the grinding of magnets 5. at 22k rpm, the remaining 0.x miligrams of imbalances after dynamic balancing that sway the bell from one side to another as well which requires some margin. 6. warping from repeated thermal expansion I can't improve them without CNCing with different tools / cutting operations / fixtures; try different parameters for press fit, try different adhesives which responds differently to thermal expansion, etc. And that's just the airgap. Every feature has its own quirks and optimizations to be made. And this isn't a one time thing, this is a marathon that all actuator-makers are running, always, for every SKU. With the added complexity of a gearbox. So I understand Why @atlasmotion does custom motor design + US prototyping then does volume production in the Philippines. Their experienced manufacturing labor gives you the flexibility to handle different products AND process experimentation. Why @parthingle_x is building custom CNCs specialized for motors/actuators and a factory knowledge base with, telemetry and scheduling capabilities. This makes sense to me because it's a specialized tool to automatedly improve to cut better parts for motors. Why Almetra capture live factory floor video, immediately convert raw human movement into structured digital work steps, and orchestrate real-time floor feedback that systematically drives automated process improvements. We at Caldera are going the route of fully automating design and process iteration via factory intelligence, robotic assembly and software integration over all machines that participate in actuator manufacturing. All of us are building pieces of the same capability: running more experiments, learning from them faster, and getting the improvements into production. That's what US manufacturing needs to compete. The motor you can build today is the starting point. What matters is how quickly you can build a better one. Please tag people with a blurb of what they're doing if you think they are working in this field as well! It'd be super interesting to see what everyone is building and what are their takes.

True story. You can just make things in America 🇺🇸