Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Friday showed off a prototype of the humanoid robot ‘Optimus’, predicting that the electric vehicle maker will be able to produce millions and sell them for $20,000 (roughly Rs. 16,33,000) – less than a third of the cost. Model Y worth.
“Optimus still has a lot of work to do to refine it and prove it,” Musk said at the electric automaker’s “AI Day” event at Tesla’s offices in Palo Alto, California, where the robot was on display.
Tesla said a prototype model that was developed in February went out to waves on Friday to crowds and showed a video of Tesla doing simple tasks such as watering plants, carrying boxes and lifting metal bars at the company’s manufacturing station in California. plant
The team rolled out the more streamlined current-generation bot on a cart, and Musk said he hoped it would soon be able to walk on its own.
He said existing humanoid robots are “missing brains” – and have the ability to solve problems on their own. By contrast, he said, Optimus will be a “highly capable robot” that Tesla aims to build in the millions. He said it will cost less than $20,000 (roughly Rs. 16,33,000).
Musk and Tesla representatives acknowledged that much work will be needed to achieve the goal of mass-produced, low-cost robots using Tesla-designed technology capable of replacing humans in the workplace.
Other automakers, including Toyota and Honda, have developed humanoid robot prototypes capable of doing complex things like shooting a basketball, and production robots from ABB and others are a mainstay of auto manufacturing.
But Tesla alone is pushing the market opportunity for a mass-market robot that can also be used in factory work.
The next-generation Tesla bot, which was brought on stage by employees, will use Tesla-designed components, including a 2.3kWh battery pack carried in its torso, a chip system and actuators to drive its limbs. This robot is designed for a weight of 73 kg.
“He wasn’t ready to walk. But I think it will be up and running in a few weeks,” Musk said.
Musk described the event as aimed at recruiting workers, and the engineers on stage catered to the tech audience. He detailed the process by which Tesla designed the robot arms and used crash-simulator technology to test the robot’s ability to fall on its face without breaking.
Musk, who has previously spoken about the risks of artificial intelligence, said the mass rollout of robots has the potential to “transform civilization” and create “a future of abundance, a future without poverty.” But he said he believes Tesla’s shareholders have an important role to play in validating the company’s efforts.
“If I go crazy, you can fire me,” Musk said. “It’s important.”
Much of the reaction on Twitter was positive, focusing on the pace of Tesla’s development efforts since August last year, when Tesla announced its project with a stunt in which a man in a white suit imitated a humanoid robot.
Henry Ben Amour, professor of robotics at Arizona State University, said Musk’s price target of $20,000 (roughly Rs. 16,33,000) is a “good proposition” as the current price for human robots is around $100,000 (roughly Rs. 82,00,000). .
“There is a difference between the aspirations and what they have presented,” he said. “When it comes to dexterity speed, the ability to walk in a steady fashion, and so on, there’s still a lot of work to be done.”
Aaron Johnson, a professor of mechanical engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, also said the need for robots is debatable.
“What’s really impressive is that they got to that level so quickly. It’s still a little unclear what exactly the use case is for them to make these millions,” Johnson said.
Tesla also discussed its long-delayed self-driving technology at the event. Engineers working on auto self-driving software described how they trained the software to choose actions, such as when to merge into traffic, and how they sped up the computer’s decision-making process.
In May, Musk said the world’s most valuable carmaker would be “essentially worth zero” unless it achieves full self-driving capabilities and would face growing regulatory inquiries as well as technical hurdles.
Musk has said Tesla will achieve full self-driving this year and mass-produce robotaxis with no steering wheel or pedals by 2024.
At the “Autonomy” event in 2019, Musk promised 1 million robotaxis by 2020 but has yet to deliver such a car.
© Thomson Reuters 2022
