The Tesla Bot would do mundane “human” tasks such as picking up groceries or tightening a wheel using a wrench, although we aren’t sure if Tesla will ever launch it.
Elon Musk earned the reputation of bringing out unconventional and innovative technologies across the globe. The AI Day event by Tesla was created to showcase the company’s investment into artificial intelligence and robotics for its self-driving tech and other projects that go beyond electric vehicles. On that note, Musk also said that “The Robot is just a Tesla without wheels.”
The event commenced with an overview of the recent developments regarding Tesla’s Full-Self-Driving software, which is currently steeped in controversy thanks to a case filed by the National Safety Regulators and the Federal Trade Commission—not to mention the recent incidents involving Teslas crashing into emergency vehicles (they overlook this part). Still, Tesla engineers showcased the in-house-built Dojo D1 chip, which would provide the required processing power to make all those safety systems finally work.
After this, Elon announced the Tesla Bot or ‘Optimus’ as known within the premises. The launch took off in quintessential Musk style — quirky, absurd, and revolting — with a demonstrator wearing a silver outfit with a Daft Punk style black helmet, performing Robot dance moves in front of the crowd!
And then, there was the bot itself. It stands tall at 5 8’ and is constructed using ‘lightweight materials,’ checking in at 125 lbs. The humanoid also uses human-like hands to perform trivial tasks. It will use Tesla’s proprietary systems and features enabled through the Dojo chip and is meant to replace humans for “boring, repetitive, and dangerous tasks” like picking up groceries or tightening a wheel using a wrench.
Interestingly, Musk, among other bosses in Silicon Valley, already warned about the possible implications of technology and robots in replacing people’s jobs in the future. Hence, he claimed that the Tesla Bot will not be programmed for complicated tasks and is only meant as a personal assistant that can be ‘overrun’ by humans. But the most surprising point is that, if Musk is to be believed, a prototype of the Tesla Bot would currently be under development and should come out next year, if things go according to plan.
Critics argue that Elon’s claims for the humanoid are a bit too ambitious and compared its strides in robotics to that of Boston Dynamics’ Atlas, which can now perform parkour tricks in real life. They further argue that such a robot wouldn’t be commercially viable until at least the next decade.
Of course, Musk and Tesla have also been known to stir hype when possible and over-promise, especially during big events. For example, an announcement in June recently pushed the launch of the Cybertruck until next year with no official date confirmed yet. And even the Hyperloop ended up being nothing but a tunnel for Tesla vehicles.
What about you? Would you get one?
