Elon Musk reveals humanoid robot prototype as Tesla plans to produce millions

Tesla CEO Elon Musk showed off a prototype of his humanoid robot called Optimus on Friday, predicting the electric vehicle maker would be able to produce millions and sell them for less than $20,000 (€20,404) – less one-third the price of a Model Y.

Musk said he expected Tesla to be ready to take orders for the robot in three to five years, and described an effort to develop the product over a decade or more, the most detailed vision that he has provided to date on a business he believes could be bigger than Tesla’s electric vehicle revenue.

Tesla’s drive to design and build consumer robots that would also be tested by jobs in its factories sets it apart from other manufacturers who have experimented with humanoid robots.

The much-anticipated reveal of robot prototypes at Tesla’s office in Palo Alto, Calif., was also part of what Musk described as an effort to have Tesla seen as a leader in areas like artificial intelligence, and not only as a company that makes “cool cars”.

An experimental test robot that Tesla says was developed in February came out to greet the crowds on Friday, and Tesla showed video of it performing simple tasks, such as watering plants, carrying boxes and lifting metal bars in a company production station. California plant.

But a more streamlined stream, which Musk said was closer to what he hoped to put into production, had to be rolled out to a platform and waved slowly through the crowd. Musk called him Optimus and said he would be able to walk in a few weeks.

“There’s still a lot of work to be done to refine Optimus and prove it,” Musk said, later adding, “I think Optimus is going to be amazing five or 10 years from now, like mind-blowing.”

He said existing humanoid robots “lack a brain” – and the ability to solve problems on their own. By contrast, he said, Optimus would be an “extremely capable robot” that Tesla would aim to produce in the millions.

Other automakers, including Toyota Motor and Honda Motor, have developed prototype humanoid robots capable of doing complicated things like shooting a basketball, and production robots from ABB and others are a mainstay of automotive manufacturing.

But Tesla is the only one pushing the market opportunity for a consumer robot that could also be used in factory work.

The next-generation Tesla bot will use Tesla-designed components, including a 2.3 kWh battery carried in its torso, a chip system and actuators to drive its limbs. The robot is designed to weigh 73 kg.

Tesla engineers, who like Musk all wore black T-shirts with an image of heart-shaped metallic robotic hands, described how they developed the robot’s functionality – including areas such as how the fingers are moving – with a focus on lowering the cost of production lower.

“We’re trying to follow the goal of the fastest path to a useful robot that can be manufactured in volume,” Musk said.

By developing a robotics company, Musk said, Tesla is changing the terms of a well-known mission statement that has become part of its appeal to investors and climate activists by pledging to “accelerate the global transition to climate change.” ‘durable energy”.

“Optimus is not directly in line with accelerating sustainable energy,” Musk said. “I think the mission expands somewhat with the advent of Optimus to – you know, I don’t know: make the future great.”

Musk described the event as intended to recruit workers, and the engineers on stage were aimed at a technical audience. They detailed the process by which Tesla designed robot hands and used crash simulation technology to test the robot’s ability to land on its face without breaking.

Musk, who has previously spoken about the risks of artificial intelligence, said the massive deployment of robots has the potential to “transform civilization” and create “a future of abundance, a future without poverty.” But he said he thought it was important for Tesla shareholders to play a role in reviewing the company’s efforts.

“If I go crazy, you can fire me,” Musk said. “It is important.”

Many reactions on Twitter have been positive, focusing on the speed of Tesla’s development efforts since August last year, when Tesla announced its project with a stunt in which a person in a white suit simulated a humanoid robot.

Henri Ben Amor, professor of robotics at Arizona State University, said Musk’s price target of $20,000 was a “good guess” since current costs are around $100,000 for humanoid robots. .

“There is a certain mismatch between the type of ambition and what they presented,” he said. “As far as dexterity, speed, ability to walk steadily, etc., there is still a lot of work to be done.”

Aaron Johnson, a mechanical engineering professor at Carnegie Mellon University, also said the need for the robot was questionable.

“What’s really impressive is that they got to this level so quickly. What’s still a little murky is what exactly is the use case for them to make millions,” Johnson said.

Tesla also discussed its long-delayed self-driving technology at the event. Engineers working on the self-driving software described how they trained the software to choose actions, such as when to blend into traffic, and how they sped up the computer decision-making process.

In May, Musk said the world’s most valuable automaker “would be worth virtually zero” if it didn’t achieve full self-driving capability, and faced mounting regulatory investigations, as well as to technological barriers.

Musk said Friday that beta testing of Tesla’s full self-driving capability will be “technically” ready for global rollout by the end of 2022, but regulations pose hurdles. – Reuters