Elon Musk demos humanoid robot, which will cost less than $20K

CEO Elon Musk unveiled two prototypes of the Tesla robot at his firm’s 2nd annual AI Day — and while the bots are nowhere shut to as spectacular as likely the most humanoids we’ve seen sooner than, they might be able to also have an even bigger influence on the scheme in which forward for labor.

The Tesla robot: In 2021, Tesla held its first AI Day, a livestreamed match to present its latest traits in AI hardware and software program, with a spotlight on Tesla automobiles’ Autopilot system.

Shut to the reside of the match, Tesla offered a transient video of a sleek, humanoid robot — after which a particular person dressed esteem the robot walked onto the stage and broke into dance.

That little bit of silliness used to be followed by Musk noting that, while the “robot” that preceded him on stage used to be obviously no longer right, the “Tesla bot” seen in the video would be.

“Tesla is arguably the sector’s perfect robotics firm because our automobiles are esteem semi-sentient robots on wheels … it roughly is nice to place [Tesla’s tech] onto a humanoid receive,” he stated.

Musk added that the robot used to be meant to “receive rid of unhealthy, repetitive, and tiresome tasks” and stated that Tesla would “doubtlessly have a prototype” in 2022.

What’s fresh? On September 30, 2022, Tesla held its 2nd AI Day. This time, it started the match with a reside demo of a “tough pattern” Tesla robot — named Bumble C and constructed utilizing semi-off-the-shelf parts — gingerly walking, waving, and elevating the roof.

“That is literally the well-known time the robot has operated with out a tether,” stated Musk, adding that “the robot can the truth is enact loads bigger than we correct showed you — we correct didn’t want it to tumble on its face.”

Videos of a tethered Bumble C carrying containers and watering plant life in an office surroundings and involving steel bars at a producing facility place followed. Tesla then brought a prototype of an “Optimus robot” featuring fully-Tesla-designed actuators, battery packs, and control methods to the stage.

That Tesla robot waved and moved its limbs spherical while Musk authorized its opposable thumbs and skill to pass every of its fingers independently.

“It wasn’t moderately ready to slip, but I feel this might per chance slip in about a weeks,” he stated. “We wished to notify you … one thing that’s the truth is form of shut to what’s going to drag into production.”

The large image: Someone who has seen videos of robotics firm Boston Dynamics’ Atlas humanoid dominating obstacle classes or dancing the twist might per chance per chance also in actuality feel bigger than a bit underwhelmed by Optimus’ waves and flailing limbs — but they shouldn’t.

While Atlas is clearly more agile than either Tesla robot, it’s also designed to be a analysis platform, no longer a commercial product. That makes it no longer doable to know what every bot funds to invent — the very best context we have is Boston Dynamics’ great smaller robot canines Enviornment, which retails for $74,500.

Tesla’s purpose is to promote its Optimus robot for beneath $20,000 and invent thousands and thousands of them, so it’s designing the bot with low funds and mass production in thoughts. This kind of robot doesn’t want so to dance — it correct wishes so to enact easy tasks, reliably.

“[Optimus production unit 1] is ready to are trying tools and enact priceless issues,” stated Musk at some stage in Tesla’s AI Day 2022. “Our purpose is to fabricate a priceless humanoid robot as like a flash as doable.”

When pondering the Tesla robot’s present barriers, it’s also price conserving in thoughts Musk’s acknowledged “sole purpose” for AI Day: convince the very best AI talent to affix the firm.

So, yes, the Tesla robot doesn’t discover awesome — yet. But if the AI Day demonstrations are ample to handbook high-stage AI researchers to affix Tesla, it’ll also very properly be awesome in due direction.

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