# Jay Li

> Jay Li is the founder and CEO of Proception, a Palo Alto robotics startup building high-dexterity robotic hands for humanoid robots. A former electronics lead on Tesla's Optimus program, he left to bet that the fastest path to capable robots runs through hardware close enough to the human hand that machines can learn directly from people. His ProHand packs 22 degrees of freedom and skin-like tactile sensors; its companion ProGlove captures human manipulation data with no robot in the loop. In June 2026 Proception shipped its first hands, settled a Tesla trade-secret lawsuit, and closed an $11M seed round led by First Round Capital on the same day.

- **Role:** Founder & CEO at Proception
- **Organizations:** Proception, Tesla, Apple, Aurora, Aeva
- **Nationality:** United States
- **Education:** Mechanical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Electrical Engineering, Stanford University
- **Known for:** Founder and CEO of Proception, building 22-degree-of-freedom dexterous robotic hands, Led electronics for Tesla's Optimus program and designed sensors for the Gen 2 humanoid, Raised an $11M seed round led by First Round Capital, with Y Combinator and BoxGroup participating

## Career timeline

- **pre-2024** — Over a decade of hardware engineering across Apple, Aurora, and Aeva
- **2023-2024** — Led the electronics division for Tesla's Optimus humanoid robot; designed critical sensors for the Gen 2 robots
- **2024** — Resigned from Tesla and founded Proception six days later with co-founder Jack Xu
- **2025** — Proception joins Y Combinator's W25 batch; Tesla files a trade-secret lawsuit in June 2025
- **2026-06** — Settles the Tesla lawsuit, closes an $11M seed round led by First Round Capital, and ships the first batch of ProHands

## Achievements

- Founder and CEO of Proception, building 22-degree-of-freedom dexterous robotic hands
- Led electronics for Tesla's Optimus program and designed sensors for the Gen 2 humanoid
- Raised an $11M seed round led by First Round Capital, with Y Combinator and BoxGroup participating
- Shipped ProHand 1.0 to researchers and robotics companies in June 2026
- Built ProGlove, a wearable sensor system that captures human manipulation data without a robot present

## Latest updates

- **2026-06** — Proception settled Tesla's trade-secret lawsuit, closed an $11M seed round led by First Round Capital, and began shipping ProHand 1.0.

## Links

- Website: https://proception.ai
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jaylicareer

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/jay-li
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-07-01