Mind Robotics Names Doug Field as President of Robot Startup

Mind Robotics said on October 13, 2026 that it had hired Doug Field as president, giving him oversight of product, engineering and operations at the Palo Alto, California, robotics startup. He will work alongside founder RJ Scaringe, according to a company announcement distributed by Business Wire.

Field arrives from Ford, where he most recently held a senior role covering electric vehicles, digital products and design. He earlier ran Apple's special projects unit and its Mac hardware engineering group, and before that was a senior engineering executive at Tesla with responsibility for the Model 3's development.

Founded in 2025, Mind Robotics is building a combination of AI foundation models, custom robot hardware and deployment systems aimed at automating manufacturing work. Rivian, the electric vehicle maker, is a customer and launch partner, giving the startup access to an operating high-volume plant where its models can be trained and tested.

"Mind has assembled an exceptional team," Field said, pointing to the advantage of working inside a functioning factory from the start.

Scaringe said Field has a record of turning new technology into shipped products and of building teams around complex problems.

This story was first reported by Business Wire.