Mechanical Engineer Co-op

Palmer Luckey says AI won't save founders from the hardest part of their jobs. Sep 28, 2026, 2:16 PM PT Palmer Luckey has a warning for people who think AI will let them start a company and spend their days building its technology. The Oculus and Anduril founder said at the Moonshot Live event in Los Angeles that AI may change how a founder works, but it does little to relieve founders of responsibility for the company or the people in it. "You're still on the hook legally. You're still on the hook for all the interpersonal stuff. And you can delegate some of it, but at the end of the day, it's your call. It's your decision. It's the same thing for fundraising. It's the same thing for general product architecture." Luckey told show host Peter Diamandis. "And when people make the wrong decisions, it's your choice as to when you need to overrule them, override them, replace them. "I don't see AI replacing that part of it anytime soon," Luckey added. "Not because it couldn't, but because the gains everywhere else are so much larger that I think we've got a good 10 years of speed running all of the other parts of the business before they cover that." Luckey's view echoes a distinction in OpenAI's recent report on its own researchers' use of AI. The company found its biggest automation gains in tasks including coding and technical support. People still did most of the work of choosing research priorities and deciding which results to pursue. As AI handles more technical execution, judgment and decisions made about people may become more valuable soft skills. For aspiring founders, Luckey's message was blunt. "If you are like a hobbyist coder or a hobbyist engineer and you think you're going to start a company and you think you're going to be doing all that stuff, no, you're going to learn a hard lesson," Luckey said. "When you're a founder, you don't get to actually work in any of the tech," Luckey added. "All the other people get to have all the fun."

Anduril's three-ton Dive-LD underwater robot lets seawater flood through its outer body to survive depths of 6,000 meters, can operate for up to 10 days and is now being developed for tasks ranging from military missions to inspecting offshore wind cables on the seafloor. Published On: September 26, 2026 at 3:02 PM Anduril's Dive-LD takes an unexpected approach to deep-sea travel. Instead of keeping seawater outside its entire body, the autonomous underwater vehicle allows it through the outer structure while protecting sensitive equipment separately. Its manufacturer lists a maximum operating depth of 6,000 meters (about 19,700 feet) and endurance of up to 10 days. The unusual design is paired with a 3D-printed exterior and a Rhode Island factory planned around production of hundreds of vehicles annually. But beyond the military headlines lies another application worth watching, inspecting underwater infrastructure for offshore wind projects. Noticias medio ambiente Why letting seawater in makes sense. Dive-LD measures about 19 feet long and four feet across, with a dry weight of roughly 6,000 pounds. Picture a three-ton vehicle without a cabin, passengers, or anyone sitting behind the controls. How does letting water in help a submarine survive? Its outer body is "free-flooding," meaning seawater reaches both sides of the exterior panels and equalizes pressure across them. Sensitive electronics remain inside separate pressure-resistant enclosures, so allowing water through the structure does not mean soaking the computers. The trick is not to eliminate pressure. It is to let the outer shell provide the vehicle's shape without maintaining a large, dry interior against deep-ocean pressure. A printed shell is not a two-day submarine. In a 2021 manufacturing report, supplier Additive Engineering Solutions described printing the complete set of Dive-LD hull components in less than two days. These components are the exterior fairings, not a complete submarine ready to begin a mission. Noticias financieras Ecología y entorno Periódicos The same report said two operators could remove the full set of fairings in under 15 minutes. That gives technicians quick access to the structure underneath, while the printing method allows the exterior to be changed without creating conventional molds. There is still a difference between printing panels and delivering an operational vehicle. Anduril's manufacturing strategy also emphasizes commercially available components and established supply chains, making the printer one part of a broader production system rather than the sole reason it can scale. The connection to offshore wind. A separate project documented by the National Offshore Wind Research and Development Consortium gives the civilian case some substance. It involved Anduril and software partner Metron developing Dive-LD capabilities for inspecting the underwater cable route between Point Judith and Block Island. The project's stated objectives included wide-area sonar surveys, seabed depth measurements, and closer inspection of detected anomalies. It also called for sharing the resulting data with the offshore wind community, connecting underwater autonomy to the less visible maintenance work behind offshore energy. Reciclaje residuos Noticias de economía "Dive-LD allows us to work closer to the seafloor," Dive Technologies co-founder Sam Russo explained in an April 2024 interview published by NobleReach Foundation. In that interview, he described work with offshore wind developers and owners of pipelines and telecommunications cables, showing that the commercial ambition extends beyond a possible future use. What the 200-vehicle figure really means. Anduril's 150,000-square-foot facility at Quonset Point was planned for manufacturing at a scale of around 200 large-diameter vehicles annually. That figure describes production capacity, not an announcement that customers ordered 200 Dive-LDs or that 200 finished vehicles have already been delivered. The ramp-up timetable has also shifted since the early plans. On August 30, 2026, Defense Daily reported that company officials expected the Dive-LD line to reach maximum capacity by the end of 2027, rather than the earlier end-of-2026 target. A September 1 summary of an interview with Anduril executive James Buescher described production in the hundreds per year, but supplied no delivery tally. That description does not establish how many completed vehicles customers have received, leaving an important distinction between reported production rates and documented deliveries. Deep-sea access still needs environmental evidence. The depth and endurance numbers need similar care. They are advertised operating capabilities, not evidence that every deployment spends 10 days at 6,000 meters, and they do not establish a smaller environmental footprint. An environmental assessment would need to consider manufacturing materials, energy use, support-vessel requirements, service life, and recovery of the equipment. For offshore wind operators, the more immediate test is whether inspections provide dependable maintenance data, not simply how many robots leave a factory. Dive-LD's modular construction and civilian inspection applications make it worth following, but production claims and environmental benefits should remain separate. The latest company production update discussed here was published on Defense Daily.