--- title: "A Robot That Can’t Pick Up Fluff Caused Tesla’s Model 3 Delays" description: "On a call with investors, Elon Musk admitted Model 3 delays were caused by a \"flufferbot.\" Will that be enough to appease investors?" date: "2018-05-03" modified: "2018-05-05" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/fluff-caused-teslas-model-3-delays" categories: - "Advanced Transport" - "Tesla" tags: - "automation" - "elon musk" - "Model 3" - "tesla" --- # A Robot That Can’t Pick Up Fluff Caused Tesla’s Model 3 Delays ![]() *\Image: Getty Images/Victor Tangermann\* Like a drunk person throwing rings at a carnival, Elon Musk just keeps missing the target. [Investors are fuming](): production of the Model 3 [keeps getting delayed](), and somehow the company is just [burning through cash](). We finally know *why* it's taking so freakin' long for Model 3s to roll off the assembly line: because robots are the worst. Specifically: a bad robot that was bad at sticking fluff on mats. Elon blamed the delays on what he called a "flufferbot" that was just not performing up to expectations. On a call with investors earlier this week, [*Slate* reported]() that Musk said: "Machines are not good at picking up pieces of fluff. Human hands are way better at doing that. So we had a super-complicated machine. Using a vision system to try to put a piece of fluff on a battery pack." Honestly, so unfair. All this flufferbot was trying to do was pick up fluff. It's not *its* fault that it kept not doing that, or putting it in the wrong place. Fluff is really hard to engineer. https://twitter.com/flufferbot/status/991838585031675909 And to throw some wood on the burning embers of your frustration: Elon admitted the fluff [wasn't even necessary](). So, no, [half a million]() Model 3s will not roll off the production line by the end of this year. Not by a long shot. Even if Elon personally reassigned every one of Tesla's flufferbots. [via GIPHY]() Elon now promises to make 5,000 Model 3s per week, [more than twice]() the current rate. Looks like Elon has[ more nights on the floor]() of the Tesla Gigafactory in his future. To do that, though, he might have to cut some corners. In addition to firing all the flufferbots, Musk will stop including unnecessary front-drive ports on batteries for cars that were only intended to be rear-wheel drive in the first place. Doing that would mean that it would take less than 17 minutes to assemble a battery, *Slate* reports. Musk's comments may be asinine, but they also revive hope for Tesla's future. Yes, he's ["alienating Wall Street"]() and causing stocks to drop. But if this is what "taking care of business" sounds like in his board room, maybe it'll all just work out. *Update (5/4/2018, 2:23pm): Elon Musk has publicly apoplogized, and has called his strange outlash at analysts during a conference call ["foolish."]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()