Rivian spinoff Mind Robotics appoints Doug Field as president
Mind Robotics has hired former Ford EV executive Doug Field as president to oversee its day-to-day operations. The Rivian spinoff has raised more than $1 billion and plans to develop industrial robots, with Rivian serving as its first customer and a testing environment.
theverge.comRivian spinoff Mind Robotics hires Doug Field as president
techcrunch.comRivian’s startup Mind Robotics hires former Ford EV chief Doug Field
Field takes operational lead
Mind Robotics has appointed Doug Field as president, putting him in charge of day-to-day product development, engineering and operations. The appointment was announced at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026.
Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe, who founded the robotics startup in 2025, will remain involved. He serves as Mind Robotics’ acting CEO and chair.
Robots for industrial work
Mind Robotics is developing purpose-built robots and AI foundation models to automate industrial and manufacturing tasks at scale. The company says its robots are being designed with the dexterity and physical reasoning needed for industrial work, but it has not publicly shown them.
Scaringe says the robots will not attempt to mimic all human biomechanics. The Verge reports that the company has not confirmed whether it is pursuing a humanoid design.
Rivian will be the startup’s first customer, with its factories providing an environment for training, testing and deployment. Mind Robotics operates separately from Rivian, which reported owning about a third of the startup as of June 30, 2026.
Automotive experience and funding
Field left Ford in April after five years helping shape its electric vehicle and technology strategies, as part of a broader leadership reorganization. He previously led Apple’s Project Titan autonomous electric car effort and oversaw development of Tesla’s Model 3.
Mind Robotics has raised more than $1 billion from investors including Accel, Andreessen Horowitz, Eclipse, Kleiner Perkins and the venture arms of Volkswagen and Salesforce.
“Integrating AI and robotics is one of the most important — and difficult — engineering challenges of our time,” Field said in a statement, citing the ability to deploy and learn inside a high-volume factory as an advantage for the startup.
