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Two years in the past, Tesla’s Optimus prototype was an underwhelming mess of exposed wires that would solely function in a fastidiously managed stage presentation. Final night time, Tesla’s “We, Robot” event featured rather more superior Optimus prototypes that would stroll round with out tethers and work together straight with partygoers.
It was a formidable demonstration of the development of a expertise Tesla’s Elon Musk stated he thinks “would be the largest product ever of any type” (solution to set affordable expectations, there). However the stay demos have additionally set off a firestorm of debate over simply how autonomous these Optimus robots at the moment are.
A robotic in each storage
Earlier than the human/robotic occasion may get began, Musk launched the humanoid Optimus robots as a logical extension of among the expertise that Tesla makes use of in its automobiles, from batteries and motors to software program. “It is only a robotic with legs and arms as a substitute of a robotic with wheels,” Musk stated breezily, simply underselling the large variations between human-like actions and a automotive’s rather more restricted enter choices.
After confirming that the corporate “began off with somebody in a robotic swimsuit”—a reference to a somewhat laughable 2021 Tesla presentation—Musk stated that “fast progress” has been made within the Optimus program lately. Extrapolating that progress to the “long run” future, Musk stated, would lead to some extent the place you can buy “your individual private R2-D2, C-3PO” for $20,000 to $30,000 (although he did permit that it may “take us a minute to get to the long run”).
And what is going to you get for that $30,000 when the “long run” lastly involves move? Musk grandiosely promised that Optimus will be capable to do “something you need,” together with babysitting youngsters, strolling canines, getting groceries, serving drinks, or “simply be[ing] your pal.” Given these promised capabilities, it is maybe no marvel that Musk confidently predicted that “each one of many 8 billion individuals of Earth” will need at the least one Optimus, resulting in an “age of abundance” the place the labor prices for many companies “declines dramatically.”
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