Elon Musk was the man who warned of a ‘Terminator’-like AI apocalypse and he was also the same person who want to put AI robots into the homes of regular people. Just last year, on Tesla AI Day 2021, Musk announced that Tesla will be developing a Tesla bot. A year on, on Tesla AI Day 2022, he unveiled an actual robot on stage.
Mind you. This time, it was not a person in a leotard pretending as a robot. It was a real development robot that had for the very first time move on its own unassisted and untethered. Well, albeit not in the most natural biped manner. But if I can be honest, at least a little less awkward than Xiaomi’s. And it did kind of dance a little on stage too.
The development bot was presented without any external panels, revealing some of its inner components like electronics, cables, and Tesla-designed actuators. Not the prettiest, IMHO. However, the latest generation that “wasn’t quite ready to walk” but closer to the production version was presented. Close but still far from the electric vehicle maker’s original vision but I think it may be good enough to leave a bad taste in Del Spooner’s mouth.
The Tesla bot will be outfitted with a “brain” that will have a Tesla SOC, wireless connectivity, audio, and sensors to allow it to make split-second decisions as well as to ensure its safety and the safety of others around it. It will be juiced by a 2.3 kWh battery pack which will have integrated electronics. The battery will be enough for the bot to pull through a day, according to the engineering team.
The bot will have no less than 28 structural actuators and hands that have 11 degrees of freedom. Naturally, many of the technologies found or will be incorporated into the final version of the Tesla Optimus robot are based on Tesla’s self-driving technologies.
The approach to making the robots will be the same as how Tesla makes EVs too. This means “to make the robot at a high volume at low with higher reliability” which translates to affordability and this instance, Musk estimates that a Tesla Optimus robot would cost under US$20,000.
Obviously, it will be some years before you can actually buy one. Meanwhile, you can learn more about Tesla AI at Tesla.com, or learn more about this exciting robotic development in the video embedded below.
Images: Tesla.
