Elon Musk debuts Tesla’s first humanoid robot with a view to the mass market | Business News

Elon Musk has unveiled a prototype of Tesla’s humanoid robot Optimus. This is what the electric car maker aims to mass produce in the millions and sell for under his £18,000.

The billionaire tycoon said he expects the company to be ready to take orders in three to five years.

Musk This venture Tesla’s electric car business.

The company’s drive to design and build mass-market robots that are also tested by working in factories sets them apart from other manufacturers who have experimented with humanoid machines.

The prototype robot’s debut at Tesla’s offices in Palo Alto, Calif., is part of Musk’s effort to position Tesla as a leader in areas such as artificial intelligence, rather than just a company that makes “cool cars.”

An experimental test robot with exposed wires and electronics that Tesla is said to have developed in February slowly walked onto the stage, turned around and waved to the cheering crowd at Friday’s event. .

The company also showed videos of simple tasks like watering plants, carrying boxes, and lifting metal bars at a production station at its California plant.

But Musk said the more streamlined current model is closer to what he wanted to put into production, but it had to be rolled out, giving audiences a slow wave.

Musk, who co-founded electronic payments company PayPal and founded rocket maker SpaceX, called the robot Optimus and said he would be able to walk “in a few weeks.”

“We still have a lot of work to do to improve Optimus and prove it.”

But he continued:

Musk said existing humanoid robots “lack a brain” and are incapable of solving problems on their own.

Optimus, by contrast, would be a “very capable robot”.

Other automakers, including Toyota and Honda, have developed prototypes of humanoid robots that can perform complex tasks, but only Tesla is pursuing the opportunity for mass-market robots that can also be used for factory work. .

The next-generation Tesla bot uses Tesla-designed components, including a fuselage-mounted 2.3 kWh battery pack, and is designed to weigh 73 kg.

Wearing a black t-shirt that resembles a mask with a metallic robotic hand in the shape of a heart, Tesla engineers explored how the robot’s capabilities were developed, including areas such as finger movement. I explained what I did. Low productivity.

“We’re on the fastest path to mass-producible, useful robots,” Musk said.

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Musk, who has previously spoken about the risks of artificial intelligence, said the mass deployment of robots could “transform civilization” and create “a future of prosperity, a future without poverty.”

Many of the reactions on social media have been positive, focusing on the speed of Tesla’s development efforts since last August when it announced a project using stunts to have people in white suits simulate humanoid robots. I was guessing

Henri Ben Amor, a professor of robotics at Arizona State University, said the $20,000 (£17,937) price target is a “good proposition” because current humanoid robots cost about $100,000 (£89,686). said.

However, he said: “There is some disagreement between certain ambitions and what they have presented.

“We still have a lot of work to do when it comes to things like dexterity, speed and the ability to walk stably.”