At an artificial intelligence event on Friday, Elon Musk unveiled ‘Optimus’- the robot that shares AI software and sensors with cars’ Autopilot driver assistance features.
At the start of Tesla’s 2022 AI Day presentation, Musk acknowledged that they had “a guy in a suit” last year but promised something much more impressive today.
At the event, the early prototype which still had its framework unfinished staged a few movements waved to the crowd and performed some basic dance moves. Elon Musk quipped that the robot was well to do more, but restrained its performance today for fear it could fall on its face. However, the audience was taken away by the robot which appeared on the stage without a tether.
“Our goal is to make a useful humanoid robot as quickly as possible,” he said, with the aspiration of being able to make them at high volume and low cost. “It is expected to cost much less than a car,” he said, with a price point below $20,000. Customers should be able to receive the robot, once ordered, in three to five years, Mr Musk said. It isn’t yet for sale.
The batteyr-powered robot once fully equipped will be able to handle difficult chores and would also have conversational capabilities and feature safeguards to prevent wrongdoing by the machine.
The Major difference between Tesla’s design and other “very impressive humanoid robot demonstrations” is that Tesla’s Optimus is made for mass production in the “millions” of units and to be very capable.