A humanoid robot that Tesla CEO Elon Musk claims will one day be able to do “everything that people don’t want to do” is reportedly under development, as fantastical as that may seem (and be). The robot is known as Optimus by the manufacturer, and a demonstration of the prototype is imminent.
The Tesla Robot will be unveiled when?
At the Tesla AI Day in 2021, the Tesla Bot was first introduced. Having a live-in robot at your disposal to carry out “repetitive or dull” activities for you may seem absurd, but it appears that this is a genuine product that the business aims to develop.
The fact that they are actively seeking assistance in producing it is a significant sign that it is real, or at the very least, something they are willing to invest in. Contrary to the Tesla Phone and other ideas that have stayed concepts, this project looks to be one they’re really investigating. There are a number of job advertisements for engineers, managers, architects, and more on Tesla’s website to work on the Optimus team.
Elon Musk has stated that a prototype may be unveiled on September 30 at AI Day 2022. Most likely, it will be shown on the Tesla YouTube channel (in-person attendance starts at 5 PM PT).
Even if the Tesla robot is genuine and eventually becomes a reality, no one can predict when that will occur. Are Musk and the robot’s creators motivated to see it through to completion? That is how it seems. However, even if they are, it’s crucial to control anticipation for a genuine release.
Tesla has a history of delaying launch dates and giving the impression that a truly fantastic product is just around the corner, like many firms with big ideas. One illustration of this is the Tesla snake charger that was promoted in 2015 and that Musk is still claiming we’ll see in the future.
But if it means anything, Musk has publicly expressed his optimism that Optimus will begin production in 2023. According to Musk, the robot “will be more useful than the automobile” in the long run. It will probably begin as a factory product that aids in the production process and eventually helps with labor shortages before maybe making its way into our homes one day.
Features of Tesla Robots
As it’s still early, not much has been released thus yet. Elon Musk claims it will be benign and be used to do rid of “dangerous, dull, and repetitive activities.” That’s really all he says—those three words—if you watch the presentation. Therefore, it’s yet unclear exactly how it will be put to use.
However, at the event, Musk gave a second use case for home users, where it might be used to pick up groceries. This use case contrasts with several of the job offers we saw, which state that the robot will automate activities for manufacturing/logistics.
We can come up with a few more instances. If employed in a workplace, it may deliver coffee from the break room into a conference so that an assistant can focus on other important responsibilities. It might also be in charge of distributing paper reams from storage to the appropriate printers if there are paper reams in storage.
Work that you don’t want to perform yourself should be freed up by the Tesla Bot. The application of AI is where it would really flourish because we currently have machines that assist us with a variety of jobs (consider automobiles, dishwashers, and forklifts). It will then be able to figure out what has to be done, identify it, and carry out those last steps on your behalf (driving to the store to get something, loading the dishwasher, etc.).
Many of these possibilities are likely years away, of course. What we anticipate from the prototype—and perhaps even the first edition—is a machine that resembles a person in appearance and can help you lift heavy objects upon request. It will likely start off as a benefit for factory owners before one day becoming handy enough to assist you transport all the groceries you purchased inside by meeting you in the garage.
Morgan Stanley predicts that Tesla would need to hire close to 500k people by 2030 in order to meet demand. The Tesla robot may be an attempt by the business to save costs and increase manpower.
Tesla Robot Hardware and Specs
You have to really sell the concept of friendliness to get someone to buy a human-sized, two-footed robot that can hypothetically pick up an adult (up to 150 pounds). It is designed to allow you to “run away from it” and “most likely, overpower it,” according to Musk.
Musk argues that the robot needs a localized chip that can’t be upgraded remotely for reasons of safety. And he wants it to obey anybody who instructs it to stop doing whatever it is it is doing in order to be careful that “this doesn’t become a dystopian situation.”
It is described as having a top speed of 5 MPH, is 5’8″ (173 cm) tall, and weighs 125 kg (57 kg). It can support 45 pounds of weight.
However, those specifications might significantly alter, just like any idea or prototype. You may be able to order a customized Tesla Bot that can deadlift 300 pounds and walk at 10 mph; it may come in a variety of sizes. Tesla and Musk haven’t talked about any of that, but it’s not completely impossible.
Tesla’s robot’s appearance is yet unknown, but Musk said the prototype won’t match the one they’ve displayed (the above image).
The Tesla Bot features a screen that displays information on its face, presumably in place of speech. But like a Tesla car, it has eight “autopilot cameras” that it utilizes to assess its surroundings rather than eyes. The whole self-driving (FSD) computer, which directs the robot’s every action, is housed inside its chest.
In reality, this robot also makes use of other devices found in Tesla vehicles, such as auto-labeling, multi-camera video neural networks, and neural net planning. The same AI/autopilot team that develops technology for their cars, according to Musk, is also working on Optimus.
