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 evening, Tesla’s “We, Robot” event featured way more superior Optimus prototypes that would stroll round with out tethers and work together immediately with partygoers.
It was a formidable demonstration of the development of a know-how Tesla’s Elon Musk stated he thinks “would be the greatest product ever of any type” (approach to set affordable expectations, there). However the dwell demos have additionally set off a firestorm of dialogue over simply how autonomous these Optimus robots at the moment are.
A robotic in each storage
Earlier than the human/robotic celebration may get began, Musk launched the humanoid Optimus robots as a logical extension of among 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 a substitute of a robotic with wheels,” Musk stated breezily, simply underselling the large variations between human-like actions and a automobile’s way more restricted enter choices.
After confirming that the corporate “began off with somebody in a robotic go well with”—a reference to a somewhat 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 enable that it may “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 go? 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 individuals of Earth” will need no less than one Optimus, resulting in an “age of abundance” the place the labor prices for many companies “declines dramatically.”