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 evening, 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 know-how Tesla’s Elon Musk mentioned he thinks “would be the largest product ever of any form” (method to set affordable expectations, there). However the dwell 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 social gathering might get began, Musk launched the humanoid Optimus robots as a logical extension of a few of the know-how that Tesla makes use of in its vehicles, from batteries and motors to software program. “It is only a robotic with legs and arms as an alternative of a robotic with wheels,” Musk mentioned breezily, simply underselling the large 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 go well with”—a reference to a considerably laughable 2021 Tesla presentation—Musk mentioned that “speedy progress” has been made within the Optimus program lately. Extrapolating that progress to the “long run” future, Musk mentioned, would lead to some extent the place you could possibly buy “your personal private R2-D2, C-3PO” for $20,000 to $30,000 (although he did permit that it might “take us a minute to get to the long run”).
And what’s going to you get for that $30,000 when the “long run” lastly involves cross? Musk grandiosely promised that Optimus will have the ability to do “something you need,” together with babysitting youngsters, strolling canine, getting groceries, serving drinks, or “simply be[ing] your good friend.” Given these promised capabilities, it is maybe no marvel 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 providers “declines dramatically.”
