Tesla has unveiled a prototype robot dubbed to leave an impact comparable to the visionary Tesla underground tunnel in Las Vegas. Behold the Optimus humanoid robot.
According to Musk, the Optimus could be bought for less than $20,000 in the next 3 to 5 years. What Optimus was capable of doing so far was to wave to the crowd and to walk slowly. It has to be carried up onstage by three men. The demonstrations of its ability to move things around such as carrying a box in an office, watering a plant and lifting a small piece of metal in the Tesla factory in Fremont, California were on video, and not live.
Experts in the fields of AI and robotics suggest that Tesla might overpromise and under deliver. Musk has yet to deliver the results he promised. The fully self-driven, super-safe Teslas that he’s been promising since 2015. Or, the fleet of a million robot taxis that’d be on the road by 2020 – there are currently none; the promised date has now been extended to 2024.
“When you’re trying to develop a robot that’s both affordable and useful, a humanoid kind of shape and size is not necessarily the best way,” said Tom Ryden, executive director of the nonprofit startup incubator Mass Robotics.
Such exploration into building AI robots by automobile giants isn’t unusual.
Since the 2021 acquisition of robotics firm Boston Dynamics, Hyundai has grown its collection of humanoid and animal-like robots. Honda also unveiled Asimo more than twenty years ago, portraying a life-size space suit robot that can pour liquid into a cup in a carefully-staged demonstration. Ford has also teamed up with Oregon startup Agility Robotics, which makes robots with two legs and two arms that can walk and lift packages.
Despite impressive demos of the past, the actual applications of humanoid robotics haven’t lived up to the hype. Nevertheless, the developments in AI robotics have been exciting over the last 5 years, we look forward to witnessing more innovative achievements that benefit society.