Tesla will unveil the Optimus humanoid robots, all the details
Musk is expected to present his humanoid robot, Tesla bot or Optimus, at his automaker's second annual AI Day. Tesla could soon propose a business plan to employ thousands of humanoid robots within its factories
Elon Musk 's Tesla is ready to employ humanoid robots.
The Texas-based electric car company is looking to implement thousands of robots, called Tesla Bot or Optimus, in its factories and elsewhere, Reuters revealed.
Several job advertisements on Tesla's website dedicated to "humanoid robots" or Tesla Bot, indicate that the company is likely expanding beyond factory robots. At its annual “AI Day” event on September 30, Tesla will unveil a prototype of its Optimus design. The 'Tesla Bot' is the "most important product" Tesla is developing this year, billionaire Musk said in early 2022, arguing that production could begin next year.
As Reuters points out, Honda Motor's Boston Dynamics and Hyundai Motor have been developing humanoid robots for decades, but none have entered the market so far. Like self-driving cars, robots must demonstrate the ability to deal with unpredictable situations.
And Tesla's number one himself blamed the over-reliance on factory robots for sending the electric carmaker to "production hell" in 2018. On that occasion Musk argued that humans were better than robots in Certain jobs.
But after four years, the boss of Tesla and SpaceX has changed his mind. And he certainly won't want to be overtaken by a Chinese company. Xiaomi beat Tesla in building a functional humanoid robot. In August, the Chinese tech company unveiled its first look at CyberOne during a live event in Beijing. The humanoid robot was able to cross the stage and appeared to be communicating with Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun. But the design of its CyberOne robot looks eerily similar to Tesla's Optimus, reports Business Insider .
THE JOB ADVERTISEMENTS PUBLISHED BY THE MUSK COMPANY
Tesla plans to hire people to work on bi-pedal humanoid robots, with about 20 job postings on “Tesla Bot” including jobs designing key parts of robots as “actuators,” Reuters reports.
“The code you write will execute on termination in millions of humanoid robots around the world and will therefore be held to high quality standards,” reads one of the job advertisements.
TESLA'S STRATEGY FOR HUMANOID ROBOTS
Tesla Bot, also known as Optimus, is a humanoid robot being designed by Tesla. It was presented by Elon Musk during Tesla AI Day on August 19, 2021 and a first prototype will be ready in 2022. According to Musk, the robot with the code name Optimus has the potential to revolutionize the economy if it can carry out the tasks it requires. so far only humans can perform. For the US entrepreneur, therefore, Optimus is currently more important than a new Tesla car model or other vehicles, also because over time it could become "more significant than car activities".
Tesla already employs hundreds of robots designed for specific jobs to manufacture its cars. This time around, the Texan company hopes to go beyond logistics this time around, Fortune points out. Musk sees robots used in homes as "friend" or "cat" sexual partners.
The robot business may ultimately be worth more than Tesla's car revenue, according to Musk, who now fosters a vision for the company that goes far beyond manufacturing self-driving electric vehicles.
WHAT OPTIMUS WILL DO
Initially, Optimus will perform tedious or dangerous jobs, including moving parts to his factories, according to the company. CEO Tesla also acknowledged that humanoid robots don't have enough intelligence to navigate the real world without being explicitly instructed. But he said Tesla can leverage its expertise in AI and key components to develop and produce intelligent, but less expensive, humanoid robots on a large scale.
THE OPINION OF EXPERTS AND ANALYSTS
Tesla faces skepticism that it may show technological advances that would justify spending "general purpose" robots in factories, homes and elsewhere, according to robotics experts, investors and analysts interviewed by Reuters . Musk's robots may be able to demonstrate basic capabilities at the event, but it would be difficult for them to impress the audience's expectations of capable robots like humans, experts say.
“Self-driving cars haven't turned out to be as easy as previously thought. And it's the same with humanoid robots to some extent, ”NASA's Dexterous Robotics Team leader Shaun Azimi told Reuters . In an “Autonomy” event in 2019, Musk promised 1 million robotaxis by 2020, but has not yet delivered such a car.
To be successful, Tesla will have to show robots that perform more unscripted actions, said Nancy Cooke, a professor of human systems engineering at Arizona State University. “If it just makes the robot spin, or makes the robots dance, it's already been done. It's not that impressive, ”Cooke pointed out.
Jonathan Hurst, Chief Technology Officer of Agility Robotics, a humanoid robot company founded in 2015, said the technology "is just now starting to turn the corner." "Of course, an important measure of success is whether they profit from it," Hurst told Reuters , referring to the efforts of Tesla's humanoid robots.
NON-ENTHUSIAST INVESTORS
Finally, if experts are skeptical of Tesla's humanoid robot project, investors also seem unconvinced.
For Gene Munster, managing partner of venture capital firm Loup Ventures, which owns Tesla shares: "Investors are not thrilled with Optimus," he told Reuters .
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/tesla-pronta-a-svelare-i-robot-umanoidi-optimus/ on Wed, 21 Sep 2022 08:59:00 +0000.