Elon Musk Just Announced a Humanoid Tesla Bot
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Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla (TSLA.O), displayed a model of its 'Optimus' humanoid robot on Friday and predicted that the maker of electric vehicles would be able to produce millions of them and sell them for under $20,000, or less than a third of the cost of a Model Y.
The most thorough description of a business model Musk has yet to offer on one that he has claimed could be more lucrative than Tesla's EV sales, Musk said he anticipated Tesla would be ready to take orders for the robot in three to five years and described an effort to develop the product over a decade or more.
Tesla stands out from other manufacturers who have experimented with humanoid robots with its push to design and construct mass-market robots that would also be tested by performing tasks in its factories.
The eagerly anticipated unveiling of prototype robots at Tesla's Palo Alto, California, headquarters was also a part of what Musk has described as an effort to elevate Tesla beyond its status as a maker of "cool cars" to a leader in fields like artificial intelligence.
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| Image Credit: Telsa |
On Friday, Tesla unveiled an experimental test robot that it claimed was developed in February. Tesla played a video of the robot performing simple tasks at a production station at the company's California plant, including watering plants, carrying boxes, and lifting metal bars.
But a more streamlined current one had to be rolled out on a platform and gave a slow wave to the crowd, Musk saying that it was closer to what he hoped to put into production. It would be able to walk in a few weeks, according to Musk, who gave it the name Optimus.
Musk stated that there is still much work to be done to perfect Optimus and demonstrate it before adding, "I think Optimus is going to be incredible in five or ten years, like mind blowing," later.
Existing humanoid robots, according to him, lack a brain and the capacity to come up with solutions on their own. In contrast, he asserted, Tesla would aim to produce millions of Optimus, a "extremely capable robot."
ABB and other manufacturers of production robots are a staple of the auto industry, and other automakers like Toyota Motor (7203.T) and Honda Motor (7267.T) have created humanoid robot prototypes capable of complex tasks like shooting a basketball.
However, Tesla is the only company driving the market for a mass-market robot that could be used in manufacturing.
Tesla-designed components, including a 2.3-kWh battery pack carried in its torso, a chip system, and actuators to drive its limbs, will be used in the next-generation Tesla bot. It is intended for the robot to weigh 73 kg.
Tesla engineers spoke about how they developed the robot's features, including in areas like how the fingers move, with a focus on lowering the cost of production. They were all wearing black T-shirts with an image of metallic robotic hands making a heart shape, just like Musk.
We are attempting to follow the objective of the quickest path to a useful robot that can be produced in large quantities, Musk said.
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According to Musk, the purpose of the event was to hire staff, and the engineers on stage catered to a technical audience. They described how Tesla created robot hands and tested the robot's ability to fall on its face without breaking using crash-simulation technology.
Musk, who has previously discussed the dangers of AI, claimed that the widespread adoption of robots could "transform civilization" and usher in "a future of abundance, a future without poverty." However, he stated that in his opinion, Tesla shareholders should be involved in reviewing the company's initiatives.
Musk said, "You can fire me if I go crazy." "This is crucial."
The speed of Tesla's development effort since August of last year, when Tesla announced its project with a stunt in which a person in a white suit impersonated a humanoid robot, received a lot of positive responses on Twitter.
Professor of robotics at Arizona State University Henri Ben Amor called Musk's $20,000 price point a "good proposition" given that humanoid robots currently cost around $100,000.
The ambition and what they have presented "aren't exactly in line," he said. "There's still a lot of work to be done when it comes to dexterity, speed, the capacity to walk in a stable manner, and so on."
The need for the robot is questionable, according to Carnegie Mellon University professor Aaron Johnson of mechanical engineering.
"That they reached that level so quickly is really impressive. What the use case is for them to manufacture millions of these is still a little unclear "Johnson remarked.
At the occasion, Tesla also spoke about its long-delayed self-driving technology. Auto self-driving software developers explained how they trained software to decide when to merge into traffic, among other actions, and how they sped up the computer decision-making process.
Without achieving full self-driving capability, the most valuable automaker in the world, according to Elon Musk, would be "worth basically zero." The company also faces increasing regulatory scrutiny in addition to technological challenges.
Tesla's full self-driving beta testing, according to Musk, will be "technically" prepared for a global rollout by the end of 2022, but regulations will be a barrier.
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