Two years in the past, Tesla’s Optimus prototype was an underwhelming mess of uncovered wires that might solely function in a fastidiously managed stage presentation. Final night time, Tesla’s “We, Robotic” occasion featured rather more superior Optimus prototypes that might stroll round with out tethers and work together immediately with partygoers.
It was a powerful demonstration of the development of a expertise Tesla’s Elon Musk stated he thinks “would be the greatest product ever of any sort” (approach to set affordable expectations, there). However the reside demos have additionally set off a firestorm of dialogue over simply how autonomous these Optimus robots at present are.
A robotic in each storage
Earlier than the human/robotic get together 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 massive variations between human-like actions and a automobile’s rather more restricted enter choices.
After confirming that the corporate “began off with somebody in a robotic swimsuit”—a reference to a considerably laughable 2021 Tesla presentation—Musk stated that “speedy 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 possibly can buy “your personal 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 go? Musk grandiosely promised that Optimus will be capable of do “something you need,” together with babysitting children, strolling canines, getting groceries, serving drinks, or “simply be[ing] your buddy.” Given these promised capabilities, it is maybe no surprise that Musk confidently predicted that “each one of many 8 billion folks 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.”
