Tesla Optimus is a humanoid robot developed by the famous electric vehicle manufacturer. According to CEO Elon Musk, this machine has the power to create a future of abundance for mankind by working in our stead… find out all you need to know!
In August 2021, Elon Musk presented the Tesla Bot: a humanoid robot with the artificial intelligence of a Tesla car. At the time, the businessman promised to launch a prototype before the end of 2022, and to start commercial production in 2023.
Now, Elon Musk reveals that the Optimus robot will be able to copy the personality of its owner. If you decide to buy one, you’ll be able to download your personality traits onto the machine. The humanoid will then be able to behave like you.
This new information has just been unveiled by Musk as part of the an interview granted to the CEO of Business Insider. During the interview, the businessman also outlined the three main threats to humanity: religious extremism, falling birth rates… and artificial intelligence.
Regarding Optimus, Elon Musk explains that “. humanoid robots are coming. The pace of AI development is very rapid. Optimus is a general-purpose droid, a kind of worker. Its initial role must be repetitive, boring or dangerous work. Basically, work that people don’t want to do. We could download the things that make us unique. Now, of course, if you’re no longer in this body, there will be a difference, but I think we can preserve our memory and our personality. ” .
A robot designed to interact with the human world
He adds that ” humanity designed the world interact with a bipedal humanoid with two arms and ten fingers. So if you want a robot to fit into this world and be able to do the things that humans can do, it has to be roughly the same size, shape and capacity. ” .
The prospect of a robot with a human appearance and personality may seem frightening, but it is anyway impossible to prevent technological evolution. Sooner or later, robots seem destined to rub shoulders with human beings. Elon Musk is relying in particular on the rapid progress made by Boston Dynamics.
This Optimus robot will measure approximately 172 centimetres for 57 kilogramsand will be equipped with the AI of current Tesla cars. In concrete terms, it will be a robot capable of walking and performing physical activities.
A screen will be integrated into its face and will provide the owner with all necessary information. The machine will be able to lift 68 kilos and carry 20 kilos. However, its speed will be limited to 8 kilometers per hour.
Please note that this technical limit has been deliberately set to prevent the robot from harming humans. All that remains is to hope that this machine doesn’t turn against Man, fulfilling the dire predictions of Elon Musk himself…
Elon Musk presents Optimus to China: towards an era of abundance?
In August 2022, Elon Musk gave new information about the Optimus robot. His blog post was published by the official website of the Cyberspace Administration Chinese.
In this publication, Musk maintains his main argument: Tesla is one of the world’s leading robotics companies thanks to its major investments in autonomous driving.
In fact, Tesla is developing both software components of automation such as AI, neural networks, differential engines, and hardware components such as sensors and actuators.
The firm’s efforts have been focused on vehicles, but the same technology could be transposed easily to bipedal humanoid robots, thanks to recent advances in this field.
In addition to revisiting this point, Elon Musk confirms that he plans to targeting the general public with domestic robots. However, this market is underdeveloped and few companies have succeeded in conquering it, such as iRobot Roomba.
The technology will have to develop and production costs will have to come down for the Optimus to find its way into the home. Nevertheless, Elon Musk seems determined to fight this battle.
Here’s a French translation of Elon Musk’s blog post published in Chinese: ” Today’s cars are increasingly similar to web-connected robots on wheels. Indeed, in addition to cars, humanoid robots are also becoming a reality, with Tesla’s launch of a general-purpose humanoid robot in 2021.
The Tesla Bot is close to the height and weight of an adultHe can carry or lift heavy objects, walk quickly in small steps, and the screen on his face is an interactive interface for communicating with people.
You may wonder why we designed this robot with legs. Well, it’s because human society is based on humanoid interaction biped with two arms and ten fingers. If we want a robot to adapt to its environment and be able to do what humans do, it needs to be roughly the same size, shape and capability as a human.
Tesla robots are initially positioned to replace people for repetitive tasksboring and dangerous. But the vision is that they serve millions of households, cooking, mowing the lawn, caring for the elderly.
Achieving this goal requires that robots evolve to be intelligent enough, and that we have the capacity to mass-produce robots. Our four-wheeled robot cars have changed the way people travel and even live.
One day when we solve the problem of autonomous vehicles, we’ll be able to to extend artificial intelligence technology to humanoid robots, whose application will be much broader than cars.
We plan to launch the first humanoid robot prototype this year, and are focusing on improving the robot’s intelligence and solving the large-scale production problem. Next, the usefulness of humanoid robots will increase every year as production increases and costs decrease.
In the future, a domestic robot could be cheaper than a car. Perhaps in less than a decade, people will be able to to buy a robot for their parents as a birthday present.
We can predict that the power of robots will make it possible to create an era of extreme abundance of goods and services, where everyone can live a life of abundance. Perhaps the only scarcity that will exist in the future will be the ability to create ourselves as human beings. “.
A disappointing prototype at AI Days 2022
As part of the AI Days conference in September 2022, Tesla has finally presented a prototype of its Optimus robot. The first robot took to the stage, waving and greeting the audience.
However, the humanoid didn’t seem very agile. Elon Musk even pointed out that the robot could do more, but that he wanted to prevent it from falling headfirst.
A second prototype, made from Tesla parts and presented as more advanced, was also unveiled. However, this model was not yet capable of walking on its own.
The robot was then shown performing various tasks in a video, such as walking while carrying a box or watering plants. Successfully holding the watering can is rather impressive, as this involves bending the fingers.
Admittedly, these prototypes represent a step forward from 2021: the Optimus robot presented then was no more than a Tesla employee in disguise. Nevertheless, after six months’ workwe have to admit that this automaton is far from being the most advanced on the market.
In general, experts in AI and robotics were quite disappointed by this presentation. Some went so far as to denounce Elon Musk as a fraud…
Optimus software and hardware
When the Optimus prototype was unveiled in September 2022, Tesla engineers finally revealed the robot’s technical specifications. It will be equipped with 28 degrees of freedomand an additional 11 degrees in each hand.
Sa 2.3 killowatt-hour battery, 52 volts should provide a full day of autonomy. It’s impressive, but Tesla’s expertise as an electric vehicle manufacturer comes into its own here.
The six different actuators have also been illustrated. Each hand is equipped with six actuators controlled by cables for the fingers and thumb, which will enable it to grasp tools and carry a maximum load of 9 kilograms.
On the subject of software, Milan Kovac from the Autonomy team gave a few details on the AI Days stage. He confirmed that progress on Optimus is closely linked to to the advances made on Autopilot over the last few years. Most of the work was easily transferred to the robot environment.
The motion planning system and robot state estimation have also been presented in more detail, but are based on techniques commonly used in robotics.
Tesla Bot Optimus launch date
In a Tesla product roadmap update, Elon Musk stated that his two priorities were the Full Self-Driving autonomous driving system and the Optimus robot. From now on, the company is focusing above all on artificial intelligence.
In the eyes of the CEO, the Tesla Bot is not that different from a Tesla car. In both cases, the machine performs movements thanks to actuators and motors controlled by an AI-powered central processor. The only real difference is that the car has four wheels, and the robot two legs.
The launch date for the Tesla Bot remains 2023. However, Tesla’s head of artificial intelligence, Andrej Karpathy, has just taken a four-month leave of absence. to visit Europe and Asia.
This announcement came as a surprise to many, as Karpathy oversees the development of the Full-Self Driving system. Or, more than 60,000 beta testers are still waiting for version 11 which is supposed to combine city and highway driving software in a single stack, streamlining development. In fact, buyers had to pay an additional $12,000 for this SDF V11 in January 2022.
Despite the absence of Karpathy, Elon Musk assures that development will continue on course : ” Andrej is incredible and obviously plays an important role, but we have many very talented people “he explained in an interview with AI expert Lex Fridman.
We can therefore assume that Ashok Elluswamy and Milan Kovac will play a more important role in the future. Nevertheless, Karpathy assures us that he intends to return and said on Twitter that he already misses robots…
As promised by Elon Musk, in September 2022, a working prototype has finally been unveiled to the world at AI Days 2022. At the event, Tesla made it clear that the robot would soon be put to a real-life use. in one of its factories.
Elon Musk has announced his intention to produce millions of Optimus robots, and announces a price below $20,000. However, he now believes that the robot will be commercialized within three to five years, between 2025 and 2027.…