It was a little while ago when Elon Musk last presented his plans for the Tesla robot. “Optimus,” as he christened him on stage back then, was supposed to represent the future of the humanoid robot, but a lot has happened since then. Planned Twitter takeovers, factories and and.
But now at the presentation at the Tesla AI Day 2022, Musk presented the first prototype of “Optimus”, which shares some sensors and also the software with its relatives on four wheels. Some parts are based on the autopilot of the Tesla vehicles and yet Optimus can do so much more.
Tesla AI Day 2022 (Source: The Verge)
With a price tag expected to be less than $20,000, Optimus is expected to set entirely new standards in robotics, Musk promises. With Tesla’s experience in manufacturing drive units for electric cars, the entrepreneur says the company is preempting to gain a foothold in robotics while testing the machines it develops directly in its own factories.
Now Elon isn’t the first to currently work on humanoid robots, but the CEO also had a few words for the competition at the presentation. Tesla’s Optimus is designed for mass production of millions of units and can do much more than was shown during the demonstration.
One of the highlights of the presentation was probably the deconstructed Optimus, which Tesla calls “Bumble C”. Dancing, it came on stage, commented by Musk that it should not be overpowered, lest it fall on its face. After this appearance, the company showed some videos of the robot in action lifting boxes or the like.
Unfortunately, the slightly more assembled variants of Optimus were unable to walk or perform any other feats, but despite everything, Musk won over the audience.
Tesla engineers reported that the robot originally unveiled has been in development for the past six months, and that there are still some hurdles to overcome to finally turn it into a working design. But enormous progress can be expected in the coming months or years, they said.
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The schematic model of the robot is interesting, showing what lies dormant behind the facade. From a 2.3 kWh battery pack to a wide variety of sensors and sensitive joints, Optimus is a breakthrough in engineering.
Elon also gave a glimpse into the future, predicting that Optimus will fundamentally change civilization as we know it and that Optimus has the potential to improve economic performance by “two orders of magnitude.”
When we will see the next generation of Optimus remains to be seen, but Elon Musk managed to do one thing again this time, he made the audience dream about the future.
Post picture: Tesla
