Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveils prototype humanoid Optimus robot

Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed a prototype of a humanoid "Optimus" robot that shares immoderate AI bundle and sensors with its cars' Autopilot operator assistance features. At the commencement of Tesla's 2022 AI Day presentation, Musk acknowledged that they had "a feline successful a suit" last year but promised thing overmuch much awesome today.

According to Musk, this prototype tin bash much than what was shown live, but "the archetypal clip it operated without a tether was contiguous connected stage." Musk predicted it could deed a terms of "probably little than $20,000" and later, successful a Q&A session, explained that Tesla is precise bully astatine gathering the AI and the actuators indispensable for robotics based connected the acquisition of producing thrust units for electrical cars. Musk said that would assistance it get susceptible robots into accumulation and commencement disconnected by investigating them wrong its factories.

He claimed that the quality betwixt Tesla's plan and different "very awesome humanoid robot demonstrations" is that Tesla's Optimus is made for wide accumulation successful the "millions" of units and to beryllium precise capable. As helium said that, a squad of workers moved a non-walking prototype offstage down him.

Initially, the backmost doors of the signifier opened to uncover a deconstructed Optimus that Tesla calls "Bumble C" that walked guardant and did a "raise the roof" creation move. Musk admitted that they wanted to support it safe, not marque excessively galore moves connected stage, and person it "fall level connected its face." (Best to debar different Cybertruck sledgehammer incident if you can.)

Afterward, the institution showed a fewer video clips of the robot doing different tasks similar picking up boxes.

Then Tesla's squad brought retired different prototype showing a "very adjacent to production" mentation of Optimus with its assemblage afloat assembled but not afloat functional — it was held up connected a basal and waved to the audience, showing the scope of question of its wrist and hand. Musk claimed this portion (that was walked retired and yet rolled disconnected by a squad of workers) inactive contains actuators, artillery pack, and everything other but "wasn't rather acceptable to walk."

They revealed that the archetypal robot presented was developed successful conscionable the past six months. Discussing hurdles they person to code successful getting it from the prototype to a moving design, they anticipation to "get this done wrong the adjacent fewer months... oregon years."

It contains a 2.3kWh artillery pack, runs connected a Tesla SoC, and has Wi-Fi and LTE connectivity. Demonstrations focused connected addressing the robot's joints, similar its hands, wrists, oregon knees, showed however they processed information for each joint, past looked for the communal areas successful each plan to find a method utilizing lone six antithetic actuators. The human-like hands are a "Biologically Inspired Design" that engineers accidental volition marque them much suitable for picking up objects of assorted shapes and sizes, holding a 20-point bag, and having a "precision grip" connected tiny parts.

Tesla's Autopilot bundle was moved from its cars to the bot and retooled to enactment successful the caller assemblage and environment. Tesla question captured radical doing real-world tasks similar lifting a container and past utilizing inverse kinematics, repeats the movements utilizing Optimus. Then "online question adaptation" is applied to marque it truthful these tasks aren't truthful rigid and tin beryllium manipulated to instrumentality into relationship an unstructured environment.

"It'll beryllium a cardinal translation for civilization arsenic we cognize it," said Musk. He continues to accidental that Optimus has the imaginable of "two orders of magnitude" of imaginable betterment of economical output.

Musk archetypal announced the "Tesla Bot" astatine past year's AI Day, promising it would beryllium "friendly" and perchance revolutionize the company's assembly enactment and manufacturing business.

Musk had warned his fans not to expect the prototype to look similar the glossy black-and-white rendering archetypal shown astatine past year's event. But there's been nary shortage of hype, with Musk calling the robot "the astir important merchandise improvement we're doing this year" and predicting that it volition person the imaginable to beryllium "more important than the conveyance concern implicit time."

Future applications could see cooking, gardening, oregon adjacent "catgirl" enactment partners; Musk has said portion claiming that accumulation could commencement arsenic soon arsenic adjacent year. 

In the days starring up to AI Day, robotics experts warned against buying excessively overmuch into Musk's claims. They've noted that different companies are overmuch further on successful processing robots that tin walk, run, and adjacent leap — but nary are claiming to beryllium adjacent to replacing quality labor.

Tesla's past is littered with fanciful ideas that ne'er panned retired — like a solar-powered Supercharger network, battery swapping, or robotic snake-style chargers — truthful it's anyone's conjecture arsenic to whether a production-ready Tesla Bot volition ever spot the airy of day. But the institution is wherever it is contiguous due to the fact that of Musk's sheer will. And the uncover of a prototype mentation of the robot is definite to bolster Musk's claims of Tesla arsenic "the world's biggest robotics company."

Update October 1st, 12:40AM ET: Added edited presumption video, promo pictures of the "TeslaBot," and a fewer much details.